Glass 
Book. 




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L^_.. 



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VIRGINIA. 



A S YNOPS IS 

OF THE 

Geology, Geography, Climate and Soil of the State, 

TOGETHER WITH ITS 

RESOURCES OF MINES, FORESTS AND FIELDS, 

Its P^locks anci Its Herds. 



Also Selections from the Press, and well-authenticated State- 

,nents, showing specially its Agricultural, Horticultural 

and Pomological Advantages, 



Accompanied by Statistics of Its Educational, Religious and So- 
cial System ; to which is added a Collection of Maps 
showing its Transportatioq Facilities, aqd tlqe Loca- 
tion of Its Cities aqd Prir|cipal Towns, 



PUBLISHED BY THE STATED BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



RICHMOND : 

J. W. FEROUSSON & SON, PRINTERS. 
1889. 






40420 




STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



3N^E]S^BE!:R? 



First Congressional Dis 

Second 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Eighth 

Nintli 

Tenth 



rict, - - - Orris A. Browne, Accomac C. H. 

" " - - James I. Beale, Zuni, Isle of Wight Co. 

" "•-_.. NoRMAND Smith, Richmond. 

" " R. M. Mallory, Smoky Ordinary, Brunswick Co. 

" " . - - - "William T. Sutherlin, Danville. 

" " - - R. V. Gaines, Mossingford, Charlotte Co. 

" " - _ . - H. L. Lyman, Charlottesville. 

" " S. Wellford Corbin, La Grange, King George Co. 

" " - George W. Palmer, Saltville, Washington Co. 

" " - A. Koiner, President, Fishersville, Augusta Co. 

Thomas Whitehead, Commissioner of Agriculture, and ex ofiicin Member and 
Secretary and Treasurer of the Board. 

Charles Grattan, Commissioner of Immigration, Staunton. 



Appointed hy llie Governor under Act March 5th, 18SS. 



©■^isroipsis 

—OR— 

BRIEF GENERAL OUTLINE 

—OF— 



VIRGINIA. 



Virginia — what is left since the excision of West Virginia — lies 
between the parallels of 36° 21' and 39° 27' I^., and contains an area 
variously estimated at from 38,000 to 45,000 square miles. The 
designation "Keystone State" would be more appropriate to Vir- 
ginia than to Pennsylvania, seeing that it is the one of the original 
thirteen States which occupies just that position — "keystone" of 
the arch in the grand sweep or curve of the coast from the Bay of 
Fundy to Florida. According to the classification of Maury and 
Guyot, it is the southernmost of the "Middle Atlantic States."' 
Hotchkiss, in his "Summary," says: "Virginia, as a whole, lies 
in the region of 'middle latitudes,' giving it a climate of 'means,' 
between the extremes of heat and cold incident to States south and 
north of it." Dr. M. G. Ellzey, of Washington, D. C, well says: 
■" The geographical position and physical features of Virginia are 
•eminently favorable to a salubrious air and delightful climate, 
equally removed from extremes of heat and cold." 

The often-quoted expression of Captain John Smith, "Heaven and 
earth neve- agreed better to frame a place for man's habitation," 
shows the estimation in which Virginia was held by the early settlers. 

In 1858, the Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, in an address 
delivered in Eichmond, declared his belief that " without disparage- 
ment to- other parts of the Union, the belt of country subtended by 
the Chesapeake Bay, and extending indefinitely westward, possessed 
the climate and other conditions most favorable to the highest de- 
velopment of man and the horse, the noblest of the animal crea- 
tion." While this may well be considered somewhat in the light 



6 

of a complimentary exaggeration, for we bold that this imaginary 
belt should be considerably broadened, north and south, yet it is. 
probable that the central zone of the most favored climate lies 
within the limits marked out. Indeed, the truth of the utterance 
with regard to the horse — defining the region where he reaches the 
highest degree of perfection — seems now to be established beyond 
cavil by the conceded pre-eminence of Kentucky, which has taken 
the place once held by Virginia as the "race-horse region," and 
moreover is surpassing all other States in breeding horses for trot- 
ting and for all general purposes. 

It is also affirmed that men there attain greater stature than any- 
where else on the Continent. 

Even if this claim be regarded untenable, it cannot be denied 
that the region in question is highly favored by nature. 

Going from the lowlands of Virginia westward we pass from the 
warm alluvial districts of "Tidwater," which are tempered by the 
influence of the Gulf Stream, through the more elevated region of 
"Middle" Virginia and "Piedmont," across the "Blue Eidge" 
into the great li^iestone formation of the "Valley" — thence into 
"Trans- Alleghany," or "Appalachia, " which is also a limestone 
region, in part, the difference of elevation, geological formation, 
distance from the sea, &c., giving an almost unlimited choice of in- 
dustrial pursuits. 

For more convenient reference and examination by any who are 
thinking of settling or prospecting in Virginia, a short description 
of the State is here given by grand divisions, each with the coun- 
ties composing it. These are taken in the order indicated above, 
from east to west, viz: 

Area — Square Miles. 

Tidewater Virginia 11,350 

Middle Virginia 12,470 

Piedmont Virginia 6,680 

The Valley 7,550 

The Blue Eidge 1,230 

Appalachia 5,720 

45,000 



THE TIDEWATER DIVISION. 

The first of these. Tidewater, is an alluvial region, rising from 
the sands that skirt the ocean, the post-tertiary formation, to the 
low plains nearest the Chesapeake Bay, the i)liocene — then to the 
middle tertiary, the miocene — the strip of country extending, as 
ascertained by Eogers and Euffin, to a line passing through Mathias 
Point, on the Potomac, and Coggin's Point, on James Eiver, near 
City Point — there we strike the eocene, or lower tertiary, a forma- 
tion underlying the others, and coming next in age and elevation to 



the archsean formation of the middle division, which it joins in its 
western boundary at the head of tide. 

SOILS AXD CROPS. 

The soils of this division are, in general, light, warm, easily 
tilled — and favored to this end with a semi-tropical climate, are, 
par e.rceJlence^ garden soils — admirably adapted to raising early 
vegetables for the great markets of the Northern cities. This is 
especially the character of the Eastern Shore, the Norfolk and parts 
of the Hampton and Gloucester Peninsulas. In a more restricted 
sense, this description of the soil is applicable to the greater part 
of Tidewater. 

The products of this division are very varied, and can be further 
diversified to an almost unlimited extent. 

Cotton is grown with great profit in several counties. Peanuts, 
the finest produced anywhere. Corn and oats flourish everywhere. 
Wheat of the very best quality, and grass, except where the soil is 
too light for these crops, as is the case with some of the most valu- 
able lands. 

Tobacco is cultivated to a A'ery small extent in some of the Tide- 
water counties. In colonial times it was the staple — not only the 
money crop, but the currency of the colony; and the reputation of 
Virginia tobacco was built iipon the ijroduct in the Tidewater sec- 
tion" The tobacco grown at Varina, on James Elver, had an espe- 
cial reputation, and the name of the place is said to have been given 
it because the quality of the tobacco there grown resembled that of 
Varinas, in Cuba. 

There is no doubt that excellent tobacco can be — has been — grown 
in every county in this section; and probably in every one in the 
State. 

SHEEP AND HORSES. 

This country is well adapted to sheep. The earliest lambs, and 
some of the finest in the State, are raised here, and have been 
shij)ped to New York with great profit. 

Fifty years ago the finest blooded horses of America were bred 
here in the western counties of Tidewater, and the adjoining coun- 
ties of the Middle Division. This was called the ^ ' race-horse re- 
gion, ' ' and it was long siipposed that nowhere else could this class of 
horse be raised in equal perfection. 

GRASS. 

This claim, and the one j ust preceding, that Eastern Virginia is 
a good sheep-raising region, may seem strange in view of the fact 
that it is commonly considered the very reverse of a grass country; 
but the native grasses, as wire grass, crab grass, and blue grass 
{poa conqyressa), are very nutritious. 

Moreover, one of the results of the late war was to show that 
timothy, orchard and other grasses, previously supposed to be ill- 



8 

suited to the couutiy, would grow luxuriantly under proper condi- 
tions. Even old residents were surprised to find timothy, &c., 
growing in jjerfection where horses had been j^icketed and fed upon 
J!^orthern hay; and there is no longer any doubt that hay, the very 
finest, can be grown here. Some of the best that conies to the 
Richmond market is made upon the James River, between Rich- 
and Norfolk. 

FEUITHi. 

This is a tine fruit countr3\ Apples, pears, grapes, and small 
fruits grow in great perfection. The i^each is not a sure crop in the 
greater part of this country. 

MARL. 

To speak of the geology of this country is to give a description 
of the wealth of marl underlying it — the whole region, from the 
ocean to the head of tide, probably, resting upon beds of marl at 
greater or less depth. There are, as far as is known, no minerals 
here i^ossessing value other than in an agricultural point of view, 
except the ochre beds of Chesterfield county, near Bermuda Hun- 
dreds. The small deposits of iron ore occasionally found in the 
marl beds, or bog ore near the streams, do not constitute an exception 
worth speaking of. But the agricultural value of the marls of Vir- 
ginia cannot well be overestimated — exhaustless stores of fertilizing 
material laid up for the future — they will some day make the 
alluvial region of Virginia the Belgium of America. 

HEALTH. 

An idea has somewhere gained currency that the Tidewater re- 
gion of Virginia is an exceedingly unhealthy country. It is con- 
ceded to be very desirable in other respects, but the fear of malaria 
keeps away many who otherwise would gladly settle there. 

That ague and fever prevails in some sections, it is idle to deny. 
Other localities in the Tidewater region are free from malarial dis- 
eases, and there is a remarkable immunity from fevers of a typhoid 
character. The late Dr. Pollard said: " If the fact could be knowiij 
no more mortality and as much longevity would be found in Tide- 
water as in the mountainous regions of Virginia. 



MIDDLE VIRGINIA. 



The next, as we go westward, is the Middle Division, comprising 
the country from Tidewater to the low range of mountains parallel 
to the Blue Ridge, and about twenty miles distant from it. This 
outlying range extends from Loudoun to Pittsylvania, with some- 



9 

what irregular intervals and direction, l)ut with a general con- 
formity to the course of the Blue Eidge. 

Here is the great tobacco region of Virginia — the lands of the up- 
per and lower Jurassic period or new red sandstone being especially 
adapted to the finer qualities. This formation is identical with 
that of Lancaster county, Pa., and the lower Connecticut Valley, 
where the cultivation of seed leaf tobacco has enriched the com- 
munity to an almost incredible degree. 

Middle Virginia is an undulating country — hills, table-lands and 
intervales — living springs and never-failing water courses every- 
where. The soils vai"y greatly — the bottom lands generally very 
fertile, and the uplands are often very productive, especially when 
the rocks contain epidote and some varieties of hornblende. 

The irregular limestone formation along the Avestern borders of 
Middle and the eastern of Piedmont does not make a characteristic 
soil, except in a few localities. Here and there the soils are ex- 
ceedinglj" fertile, as in parts of Orange, Culpeper and Loudoun, 
which counties are assigned to Piedmont, although part of their 
territory belongs of right to the Middle Division. 

The productions of this region are varied. Tobacco has been 
mentioned as a staple of a lai'ge part of this division of the State, 
but its cultivation is by no means universal — in many counties it is 
not grown at all. Everywhere the cereals and fruits of temperate 
climates, notably the apple and grape, grow in perfection; and 
while we have not yet reached the grazing sections proper, we find 
clover, timothy, orchard and other grasses growing here and there 
in great luxuriance; and they show a natural adaptation to grass, 
which, however, so far from having been encouraged, has persist- 
ently been thwarted — fought against — from the first settlement of 
the country until recently. 

HEALTHFULNESS. 

Except in limited localities in and near certain water courses, 
where malarial diseases prevail to some extent, this is an excep- 
tional healthy region; perhaps as favorable to longevity as any 
part of America — we might almost say of the world. 

WATER. 

This is a marvellously well watered region — a land of living springs 
and iiereunial water courses, rivers, creeks and brooks. The east- 
ern edge of the belt has been described as ^'a granite I'iin rising 
some 200 feet above the tide waters, setting bounds to their further 
flow inward, furnishing fine water power by the falling of the rivers 
over it, and sites for commercial and manufacturing towns. In 
every part of the Middle Country there is abundance of water — it 
would be hard to find a field in which there are not springs or 
brooks — and sites for mills are nowhere far to seek. 



10 



THE PIEDMONT DIVISION. 

This section of Virginia, as its name implies, lies at the foot of 
the Blii^ Ridge Mountains. This range of mountains extends from 
the Potomac river, at or near Harper's Ferry, to the Dan river, 
which forms the dividing line at the point where the range crosses 
it between Virginia and North Carolina. Its direction is northeast 
and southwest; length about 250 miles. 

The general elevation of this section ranges between 300 and 500 
feet above tidewater. The sub-range of mountain ridges that runs 
through and parellel to the Blue Eidge in many points attains to 
altitudes of 100 to 600 feet liigher: The area included in this sec- 
tion is about 250 miles long by 25 miles (average) wide — making 
about 6, 700 square miles. 

Lying at the foot of the Blue Eidge, its western border is indented 
by spurs running into it. Between these spurs there are coves of 
many sizes and shapes, watered by streams — the headwaters of 
rivers flowing east. This eastern slope of lands is broken by the 
suh-raitge of mountains above referred to, but the altitude and sur- 
face of this range are not of such a nature as to prevent cultivation 
and grazing on the highest points. 

For beauty of landscape, variety of scenery, native fertility of 
soil, water courses contributing to practical benefit as well as to 
beauty of scenery, this section is surpassed by few if any other sec- 
tions in the United States. 

The highest mountains found in this section are "Peaks of Otter '^ 
(one 4,000 and the other 3,874 feet high ) in Bedford county; "Fork," 
3,850, "Bluff," 3,522, and "Eagged," 3,298 feet, in Madison coun- 
ty; "Cahas," 3,571, in Franklin county; Mount Marshall, 3,374, 
in Eappahannock county; "Bull," 3,215, in Patrick county; Mt. 
Pleasant, 4,000, "Tobacco Eow," 2,937 feet, in Amherst county; 
"Bull Eun," 1,374, in Fauquier county, and "Peters," 1,824 feet, 
in Orange county. 

This section contains 11,024 farms. Number of acres of improved 
land, 1,951,427; acres unimproved, 1,850,149; total, 3,791,576. 
Woodland covers about one-half the surface. The woodland con- 
sists of the following kinds of growth: Oak (many species), hick- 
ory, chestnut, locust, walnut, pine, cedar, beech, birch, gum, tulip, 
poplar, &c. The soil of Piedmont Virginia is mainly red in color, 
and much heavier than what is found in the Middle section. 

The soils of Piedmont are undoubtedly many of them among the 
most fertile known, and can be made to produce a great variety and 
abundance of crops. They are easily worked: if neglected they are 
soon covered by a growth of underbrush. 

Mean temperature of Piedmont — annual, - - 53.7 

" " " " —winter, • - 44 

" " " " —summer, - - 78 

Eainfall, 32 to 44 inches. 



11 



GRAPE CULTURE AND ORCHARDS. 



In latter years the success in raising the grape in a nnmber of 
counties in this section has largely increased the production of that 
fruit and the manufacture of wine. In 1876 the silver medal was 
awarded to the wine made by a company at Charlottesville, in 
Albemarle county, at the Paris Exi^osition — the only one received 
for excellence. This called attention to the products of the vine- 
yards of that locality. Since that time great progress has been 
made in the raising of grapes. The fruit is largely shipped abroad 
and the surplus made into wine. 

It is believed by good judges that the Piedmont section, particu- 
larly some large areas of it, is the best apple region in Virginia or 
any other State. The "Albemarle Pippin" has attained to great 
reputation as an apple for export. As such it is much sought after, 
being esteemed the best apple ever carried to England. Its special 
home seems to be confined, however, to the couuiies of Albemarle, 
Orange, Amherst and Xelson, possibly because these counties have 
given it more attention. 

PECULIARITIES OF THIS SECTION AND SPECIAL ADVANTAGES AS A 

HEALTH RESORT. 

Major Jed. Hotchkiss, in The Vir</hnas, June, 1884, says: ''We 
would call attention to the fact that the Blue Eidge region in Vir- 
ginia is, as can be proven by the testimony of consumptives fully 
restored to health, the best Sanitarium in the United States east of 
the Mississipi^i. The sheltered eastern slopes of the long stretch of 
that mountain range in Virginia, above the line of 1,000 feetof ele- 
vation above the ocean level and under that of 2,500, offers hun- 
dreds of localities for health resorts for people afflicted with pulmo- 
nary diseases, that surpass any others that we know of or have read 
of. During the past thirty-six years the writer has frequently 
recommended this region to persons having such diseases, and in 
every case where the advice was followed, a restoration to health 
has resulted. If anyone is skeptical about the efficacy of the Blue 
Ride air, water and exercises, as remedial agents for lung troubles, 
let him spend a few months at some point in this belt, and we will 
make him the referee to sustain the opinion here advanced. A 
young man from Vermont, a victim of this especially fearful New 
England disease, took his advice and spent the winter of 1882-83 
there, and went away with restored health that still continues. We 
could name other cases. 

"About the best such people could do would be to buy a few 
acres of the Sunward dry air slope of the Blue Eidge in Virginia, 
and busy themselves in raising grapes and other fruits while inhaling 
health and strength. There are at least 200,000 acres of such sani- 
tary country for occupation, room for 20,000 people with ten acres 
for each, and none of it remote from railways or markets; and here, 
too, is the region for building up extensive establishments for health 
and pleasure that will have a large all-the-year-round patronage." 



12 

General McDonald, editor of the "Inrlustrial South, ^^ referring to 
the above, says : " We may say that we have some personal knowl- 
edge of the particular locality mentioned, and from our own obser- 
vation are quite inclined to acquiesce in the opinion of Major 
Hotchkiss. Among others whom we met at Afton (^in this belt) was 
a very intelligent and pleasant gentleman in the government service 
at Washington, from whom we learned that, being subject to rheu- 
matism, he thought it well, before determining where he would 
■spend his summer vacation, to consult the vSignal Bureau — the 
desideratum being a dry atmosphere. The officers examined their 
records, and reported to him that the dryest mountain atmosphere 
of which they had knowledge was at a pJace on the Blue Ridge 
•called Afton — of which he had never before heard — and his expe- 
rience had attested the correctness of the advice that sent him there. 
So dry is the atmosphere that a newspaper spread on the grass at 
night shows no sign of moisture next morning, although the night 
is much cooler. 



THE VALLEY 

is a portion of the great Central Appalachian Valley that extends 
for hundreds of miles, from Canada to Alabama— a broad belt of 
rolling country, enclosed between lofty mountain ranges, diversified 
by hills and valleys, with many winding streams of water — -the Blue 
Ridge on the east and the Kittatinny or Endless mountains on the 
west. This is a region of limestone rock, shales, slates and clays. 

The lowest point of the Shenandoah Valley is at Harper's Ferry, 
in (now) West Virginia. The lowest or most northern county in 
Virginia is Frederick, the highest is Augusta, respectively 242 and 
1,863 feet above tidewater. The length of the Shenandoah Valley 
in Virginia is 136 miles. ^ 

In this space are seven counties. The lowest is Frederick, then 
■Clarke, Shenandoah, Warren, Page, Rockingham and Augusta. 
In the latter county are the head springs of the Shenandoah 
river. 

A large portion of the Valley was settled by Pennsylvania Ger- 
mans in the early history of the State. These people brought with 
them their frugal habits, their conservative systems and modes of 
farm management, which served to keep it what nature made it to 
be — one of the most desirable tracts of country in the United 
States. 

SOILS. 

The soils of the Valley are quite numerous ; they are generally 
-called limestone soils, as this is a limestone region. The prevailing 
soil is a stiff, clayey loam — a durable and fertile soil, well adapted 
to the growth of grass and grain. In the slaty belts the admixture 
of the decomposed aluminous rocks makes a lighter and warmer 



13 

soil. There are also belts of sandy or gravelly soil that are cold and 
require cultivation and fertilizing to make them productive, but 
once redeemed they yield very well. Much of the larger portion of 
the Valley has naturally a good soil, rich in the elements of fertil- 
ity. The soil, like the rock, runs in belts with the Valley, and the 
lean ones are the smaller number. The streams, as in all limestone 
regions, are winding, so there is here a considerable area of bottom 
lands. Washington said of this section that "in soil, climate and 
productions, in my opinion, it will be considered, if not considered 
so already, as the Gaiden of America." 

Here we find the natural hlue-grasH lands, the home of the stock- 
raiser and dairy-man ; the heai\i/ clay lands, fat in fertilizing ingre- 
dients, always repaying the labor spent on them in crops of corn or 
other grain ; the light slaty lands, famous for wheat crops ; the 
poorer ridge lands, where sheep rearing should be followed. 



BLUE RIDGE DIVISION OR NEW RIVER PLATEAU. 

This elevated plateau, situated between the two widely diverging 
limbs of the bifurcation of the Blue Ridge, presents many features 
of high interest alike to the geologist and the practical miner. All 
of its ledges and bands of rock strata, its numerous deposits of ores 
and minerals, and its system of drainage, seem to have been pro- 
jected on a scale of superior proportions. Its elevation above tide, 
of about 2,600 feet average, secures for it perfect immunity from 
malarial diseases, and its high mountains, wooded to the summit, 
bring the rains in due season ; so that, with greater facilities of 
transportation once secured to it, they will become a most formida- 
ble competitor with all other divisions as a factor in solving the 
question of the State's prosperity. 

As heretofore stated, the plateau of the Blue Ridge is composed 
of the three counties — Floyd, Carroll and Grayson. They are sepa- 
rated from the Valley Division by the westerly bifurcation of the 
Blue Ridge, under the names of Pilot mountain. Poplar Camp and 
Iron mountains, and from Piedmont by the eastern limb of that 
bifurcation. 

In the absence of lines of railway transportation, by which the 
superior beds and deposits of valuable ore would be developed^ 
these counties now send to market from their naturally fine soil, 
herds of fine, healthy cattle, flocks of sheep, much high-priced 
tobacco, wheat, dried fruit, herbs, etc., and some of the finest 
apples produced in Virginia. This freestone soil — that is, the soil 
resulting from a decomi)Osition in situ of extensive bands of grani- 
toid rock, gneiss, hornblende, aluminous slates, shales, feldspars, 
etc., in fact, all the wide range of silicates of alumina, potash, lime, 
soda, iron, etc. — seems, at this elevation of over 2,000 feet above 



14 

tide, and in latitude 30° 40\ to be the home of the apple, pear, 
peach, plum, and other fruits, in a sense that means perfection in 
the fruit and unfailing crops, year after year, with the possible ex- 
-ceptiou of the peach. Should railway transportation at last be sup- 
plied these counties, in order to develop their mineral resources, 
one of the first effects resulting would be the great stimulus given 
to the increased production of fruits and fine tobacco. 

This plateau is noted for the perennial flow of its fine, clear 
streams ; their volume and their fall per mile being such as to give 
them high importance and usefulness. New river. Little river and 
some of their larger tributaries will each give i^ower of very large 
dimensions. 



APPALACHIA. 

Appalachia, with its long ranges of high mountains, shows in 
Southwestern Virginia some of its greater mountains so formed as 
to be well -calculated to call forth from a skilful general, as was 
General Washington, a remark meant to convey the idea that he 
would use them as an impregnable defence. Possibly he, in speak- 
ing in that sense of "the mountains of West Augusta," meant the 
very ranges that occupy the middle of Appalachia ; and, apparently, 
make great natural fortresses, as Burke's Garden is in appearance. 

This elevated mountain basin in Tazewell county, in the very 
heart of the great Clinch range, contains about 30,000 acres of the 
most fertile blue-grass land, and is surrounded by 'high, almost 
mural, mountain escarpments, all round, except at one point on the 
north side, where the waters of this singularly beautiful basin break 
through and form Wolf creek. 

In the counties composing Appalachia doubtless there are many 
other localities of equal beauty and character as points of strategical 
importance ; but this is slight indeed when compared with their 
value as the depositories of great mineral wealth, the storehouses 
of the rain and moisture, and the great barriers against the too sud- 
den incursion of the great northern storms. 

The whole territory, of about 3,800 square miles, is immensely 
important to the State for quite numerous reasons ; among which, 
it may be stated, are the vast areas of superior grazing lands in 
limestone valleys, extensive forests of excellent deciduous and soft 
woods, and some of the most important mineral-bearing series of 
rock formations in the State. 

This important section of Virginia, so formed into such noble 
alternations of mountain and valley, hill and dale, of pasture and 
woodland, with its magnificent and inexhaustible repositories of 
mineral wealth, presents a topography, systems of drainage, and 
resulting atmospheric conditions of superior excellence, which, to- 
gether with its position on favorable parallels of latitude, combine 



15 

to render it equal, if not superior, to any area of like size in the 
world. 

The tributaries of Xew river, rising on White Top and Balsam 
mountains, fully 5,400 feet above tide; headwaters of Holston river, 
rising at Bear Town, near Burke's Garden, 4,700 feet above tide ; 
and of Powell's river at Stone mountain, 4,000 feet above the sea, 
we have left to us, by these streams, and, also unaffected by the 
agencies of ice and snow, these splendid contrasts in tlie elevations 
and depressions of this section's topography, which not only secure 
to the region a healthful and invigorating summer climate, that is 
fast tending to make it the sanitarium of the South, but adds no less 
to the beauty of the scenery than security against any lengthened 
failure of rainfall. 

[Compiled from Hand-Book of Virginia. Fifth Edition.] 



Vegetable Productions of Virginia„ 



[Extract from Manufecturers' Record.] 



Yirginia has a ricliand abundant native flora; and the introduced 
plants, the cereals, grasses, and others, that in temperate climates 
are objects of cultivation, here have found favorable soils and con- 
genial climates. Here grow and jdeld abundantly the '^j^lants good 
for food' ' both for man and beast, and those employed in uianufac- 
tures. Timber trees of many kinds abound in all sections of the 
State. 

A comparison of the production of cereals with any other country 
presents Virginia in a most favorable light as a grain-producing re- 
gion, while nearness to market adds largely to the value of the 
products. 

Indian Corn is a staple bread grain of most sections of the State 
except the Valley; the laboring rural population, in many portions, 
use it almost exclusively. 

In Tidewater both sweet and Irish potatoes are a staple crop, the 
former having a high reputation in market for their superior qual- 
ity. The latter are sent to market very early in the season. Except 
in the Tidewater section, where market gardening has become a 
leading industry, potatoes, as a rule, are only raised in Virginia for 
family consumption; they are not fed to stock, nor, except from 
Tidewater, sent to distant markets. There is no question but that 
more use should be made of this prolific and easily raised article of 
human and animal food. 

Feas and Beans are not cultivated in Virginia to the extent they 
should be, when account is taken of the large areas so admirably 
adapted to their cultivation, so much more so than to the produc- 
tion of maize, that requires a strong soil, which it rapidly exhausts. 
Only in Tidewater and parts of Middle Virginia are peas and beans 
farm products. 

Oats and Barley, cereals not used here for human food, are im- 
portant Virginia crops, especially the former. Barley is only cul- 
tivated to a limited extent, though it always does well, and it could 
be most advantageously grown for exportation, since the climate 
would give it generally the quality it has only in occasional seasons 
in England, when it bears a high price. 



17 



THE PRODUCTS OF ORCHARDS AND MARKET GARDENS 

ill Virginia are large and valuable, niucb. more so than is indicated 
by the returns of the census. Every portion of the State is remark- 
ably well adapted to the growth of fruits of the warm-temperate 
and temperate climates. 

In Tidewater Virginia apples, pears, peaches, quinces, plums, 
cherries, nectarines, grapes, figs, strawberries, raspberries, goose- 
berries, currants and other fruits thrive and produce abundantly, 
the quality of the products being unsurpassed, as the awards of the 
American Pomological Society attest. The value of the small fruits 
alone annually sent to market from Tidewater is more than the sums 
for orchards and gardens. The trade in early strawberries is one of 
large proportions. Especial mention should be made of the wild 
Scuj)pernong grapes, peculiar to the Tidewater country near the 
sea, which spread over the forests and bear large crops of excellent 
fruit, from which a very palatable wine is made. The originals of 
the Catawba, Norton's Virginia, and other esteemed American 
grapes grow wild in the forests of Virginia. 

All the fruits named above grow in every section of the State, ex- 
cept, perhaps, figs. Piedmont, the Blue Ridge and the Valley are 
famous apple regions. Peaches flourish in all sections, but Middle 
and Tidewater may claim some precedence in adaptability. The 
Blue Ridge is entitled to the name of the '' fruit belt," and its ex- 
tensive area is yet to become the most noted wine and fruit-produc- 
ing section of the United States east of the Eocky mountains. All 
the fruits of Virginia flourish there in a remarkable manner, and 
find special adajitations of soil, climate and exposure. 

No country can be better situated for market- gardening than 
Tidewater Virginia. It is from 14 to 36 hours by water from Balti- 
more, Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, the centres 
of population of the Atlantic slope of the United States. At the 
same time, its seasons are from one to two months earlier, giving an 
advantage of fully a double price for its garden products over the 
country in the vicinity of those cities. 

The home gardens are not considered in any of the "returns" of 
the productions of Virginia, where potatoes (Irish and sweet), corn, 
peas, beans, onions,. beets, parsnips, radishes, lettuce, celery, salsify, 
asparagus, melons and squashes of numerous kinds, carrots, okra, 
tomatoes, &c., «&;c., are raised in the greatest abundance, and form 
a portion of the daily food of the entire population. 

The Peanut is extensively cultivated in Tidewater. Isle of Wight, 
Surry and Sussex are very notable counties for production of pea- 
nuts. Sandy and light soils are suited to their growth. 

Vegetable Sweets are produced in Virginia from the sugar maple 
and the Chinese sugar-cane. 

The Wine crop of Virginia is a small one, compared with the ex- 
tensive territory here found that is especially adapted to the growth 
of the vine, both by the character of the soil and the conditions of 
the climate. Fully 2,000,000 acres of land in Virginia have soils 
and exposures similar to those of the most noted wine-producing 



sections of Europe, and the seasons are so long that the grape has 
ample time to fully mature and develop its natnral juices, fitting- 
them for the manufacture of pure wine. Experience has shown that 
the vines here grown are free from diseases, and that they may be 
relied on for abundant crops. 

The Blue Eidge offers great advantages for vinticulture. One 
vineyard on it, in Warren county, of 75 acres, produces from 20,000 
to 30,000 gallons of wine and fro'm 6,000 to 10,000 gallons of brandy 
annually, the yield being from 300 to 500 gallons per acre. The 
^'red lands" of the Piedmont section are famous for their fitness for 
this pleasant and profitable industry. There are many localities in 
the other sections of the State where the vine flourishes. Early 
grapes are sent in considerable quantities from Virginia to Northern 
and Eastern markets. Mention has been made of the Scuppernong 
grape of Tidewater, marvellous for the space a single vine will cover 
and the quantity of fruit and wine it will x^i'odnce. There is no 
more inviting field for the vigneron than Virginia. 

Tobacco is a staple product of Virginia. The '^Virginia leaf" is 
noted the world over for its excellence, the result of manipulation, 
as well as of soil and climate. The soils of the Piedmont and the 
Middle sections are among the best for the growth of good tobacco; 
those of Middle produce the finest and most valuable. Tidewater is 
the region for Cuba and Latakia varieties, while immense crops of 
coarse and heavy tobaccos are grown on the rich lands of the Blue 
Eidge, the A^alley and Apalachia. 

It should be noted that tobacco culture is not an exclusive one in 
any part of Virginia. Large croj^s of grain and roots are raised on 
the same ijlantations. 

Cotton is grown in the southeastern counties of Virginia, between 
the James river and the JSTorth Carolina line. The State ranks 
twelfth in cotton production, the census of 1880 showing an annual 
l)roduct of 19,595 bales. 

Grass is one of the abundant productions of Virginia, much of its 
territory being inside the limits of "natural grasses," and all of it 
is adapted to the vigorous growth of the ' ' artificial ' ' or cultivated 
ones. But the character of its climate does not require a large stow- 
ing away of hay; therefore it does not "figure" largely in the re- 
turns. A reference to the number of cattle in each section of the 
State makes the quantity of hay i)roduced appear very small in 
proportion, but it shows that the pastures can be relied on for most 
of the year, owing to the mildness of the climate, greatly to the 
advantage of the stock-feeder. It is true that a large quantity of 
long forage is obtaiued from the " tops, blades and stalks" of Indian 
corn, which, where this is a staple crop, takes the place of hay for 
home consumptiou, and leaves the hay for market, if desired. 

Fine crops of hay are made from cultivated grasses in all portions 
of the State, but the natural meadows are mostly in Piedmont, Blue 
Eidge, the Valley and Apalachia. The "Hay Map " of the Statis- 
tical Atlas of the United States shades these sections the same as it 
does most of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 



19 

Missouri, &c., and as more productive than most of Tennessee and 
Xeutueky. 

The perennial grasses of Piedmont, the Bhie Ridge, the Valley 
and Apalachia, including the noted "blue grass," are famed for 
their nutritious and fattening qualities, and place these among the 
most highly favored grazing regions in the world. Nowhere, save 
ou the great plains of Texas and the extreme West, or South Amer- 
ica, can cattle be reared and fattened more cheai)ly than in these 
sections of Virginia, as has been proven by the investigations of the 
United States Department of Agriculture. The Valley leads in the 
jiroduction of liay and seeds; Piedmont follows. The meadows of 
the low country in Virginia have an advantage in the early "hay- 
ing" time, and, where not too remote from the great cities, much 
profit can be gained by being early in market. Tidewater and 
Middle Virginia have many fine alluvial meadows, and th(^ salt 
marshes of the former yield fine crops of hay and j^erpetual pas- 
tures. 

The crops of clover and grass seeds are unusually large where 
they are made an object; the long seasons seem to give a larger yield 
of good seed. The first crop of clover for the year is generally cut 
for hay — it has so large a growth; and seed is taken from the less 
rank second growth. 

Flax grows well in all portions of Virginia, though little attention 
is now given to its cultivation. The elevated mountain valleys suit 
it admirably. 

Castor Beans are raised in considerable quantities, especially on 
the Eastern Shore of Tidewater. 

The warm thin lands of Tidewater and the Middle country offer 
many advantages for growing Garden Herbs and Perfmnery Plants 
and Shrubs on an extensive scale— the requisite heat and dryness of 
climate can there be found. 

Hops are only raised for domestic use, except in a few cases. 
When planted the vines grow luxuriantly and bear well. Large 
areas of land, similar to the hoi) lands of Kent, in England, and to 
those of the State of IS'ew York, can be found in Virginia, and hop 
culture could be advantageously undertaken in jnany localities, to 
vary the industrial productions. 

Ramie and Jute, most valuable textile plants, could without doubt 
be most advantageously and successfully cultivated on the deep and 
rich second bottoms and reclaimed swamp lands of Tidewater. Ra- 
mie is a perennial, and the stalks are cut three or four times in a 
year. Millions of bales of jute are now annually consumed in the 
manufacture of paper, gunny-bags, grain sacks, &c. 

THE PKODUfT.-? OF TME FOKESTS 

of Virginia are hxrge, varied and iinixutant. 

Tidewater Virginia has extensive torests of ])ine (tlie noted yellow 
Virginia), oak, cypress, cedar, locust, c^c, from which large quan- 
tities of sawed lumbei- and timl)er, staves, lieading, lloop-pol(^'«, 
shingles, railway ties, fii-e wood, «&c., are constantly shipped, very 



20 

often from the edges of the forests, si nee sailing vessels can penetrate 
all portions of the section — directly to all the seaboard markets of 
the conntry. Sumac is here an abundant shrub. 

The Middle section has large areas of snj)erior hard pine, blacky 
white and other oaks, hickory, locust, i3ersimmon, gum, cedar, 
holly, and other trees, from which much excellent lumber, tan bark, 
&c., are sent over the railways and canals that penetrate and cross- 
it to various markets. Sassafras and sumac are plentiful, and the 
former could advantageously be made a staple crop on the ridge 
lands. 

Piedmont has considerable forest land, with many varieties of 
oak, hickory, tulip-poplar, black walnut, locust, cedar, chestnut., 
pine, and other timber trees, but it can hardly be considered a 
source of supply for timber for exportation, save in a few locali- 
ties. Sumac and sassafras abound. 

The Blue Eidge is mostly covered with forests of oak, white, black, 
red, rock, &c. , hickory, chestnut, locust, birch, some excellent yel- 
low pines, and other trees. This section has furnished great quan- 
tities of charcoal for the manufacture of iron from the ores of its 
western margin, and it will long be a source of supply, so rapidly 
do its forests renew themselves. The timber supply of pine and 
other woods, for the eastern part of the Valley, is drawn from the 
Blue Eidge. Here is found much valuable hard wood, as hickory 
and oak, for wagon and agricultural implement making. This is 
yet to become a most important source of supply for oak tanbark 
to convert into quercitron for exportation, or to be used in the coun- 
try for tanniug. Almost any quantity of oak bark can be obtained 
from this extensive range. 

The Valley has nearly half its surface covered by a growth of 
oaks, hickories and locusts, interspersed with black and white wal- 
nuts, yellow and other pines, all having a uniform age of 150 to 200 
years. This timber, while not the largest, is of the very best qual- 
ity, and no well-settled portion of the IJnion can offer a larger 
quantity of timber suitable for wagon, carriage, railroad car, cabi- 
net and other work, for which hard, sound and durable woods are 
required. The slaty lands abound in sumac. 

The Apalachian country is both rich and poor in forestal wealth. 
On the sandstone mountain ranges, and in the slate and shale val- 
leys, the trees are small, but the growth is dense, consisting of oaks 
and other hard woods, pines, &c., good for charcoal, with larger 
trees in the hollows and more fertile spots. On the limestone ridges 
and adjacent valleys, as also in the calcareous and some shale val- 
leys, on the other hand, the oaks, walnuts, white and j^ellow-tulip 
poplars, birches, beeches, locusts, cherries, sycamores and other 
timber trees, are found of a sound growth and very large size, often 
several feet in diameter, straight and without a limb for fifty to 
eighty feet from the ground. Only portions of this region have 
been reached by railroads; and extensive forests of the best of tim- 
ber for nearly all iDurposes await the progress of internal improve- 
ments and future demands. There are some extensive forests of 
white i)ine and of the more common vaiieties of the fir tribe, but 



21 

generally the Coniferte, suitable for timber, are not abundant in the 
forests of this section. It is fortunate that there is so much excel- 
lent coaling timber here in the vicinity of large deposits of easily 
fused ores of iron. It is from these mountain forests that ginseng, 
snake root, sarsaparilla and other medical plants are obtained. 

Forest fruits, such as blackberries, ^'hortleberries, cranberries, 
strawberries, dewberries, haws, persimmons, service berries, thorn 
and crab apples, wild plums and cherries, are found in boundless 
abundance in nearly all the unoccupied lands and in the forests of 
Virginia, where, in their season, they may be had for the picking, 
by any one that is inclined to gather them. Not only are thousands 
of bushels of these wild fruits annually gathered for home use and 
sale in home markets, but they are dried or canned for exporta- 
tion, furnishing important and valuable articles of commerce. 

Wuts are found in all sections, embracing chestnuts, chinquapins, 
black walnuts, white walnuts, or butter nuts, hickory nuts of seve- 
ral kinds, hazel nuts, beech nuts, acorns of many varieties, &c. 



22 



Animal Products. 



The climate of Virginia is favorable for the growth and the pro- 
ducts of its soil for the sustenance of animal life, consequently it 
has an abundant and vigorous native fauna on its land and in its 
waters. All the varieties of domestic animals reared in temperate 
climates have here found a congenial habitation, and excellent 
breeds of horses, mules, milch cows, working oxen, beef cattle, 
sheej), swine, goats and poultrv abound in all sections of this 
State. 

The cost of producing a given quantity of butter and cheese is 
much less in Yirginia, owing to its milder climate and longer sea- 
sons, than in many other States of the Union. The statistics of 
production show the effects of elevation above the sea of portions 
of the State, giving them more adaptability to natural grasses and 
to the dairy business. 

Sheep have always thriven in Virginia, and the wool here grown 
has an established reputation for excellence of quality. Wherever 
the business of rearing sheep, for wool or for mutton, has been judi- 
ciously conducted, it has i)roveu remunerative. Few States have 
as many special adaptations for sheep husbandry — extensive areas 
of cheap, elevated lands, covered with natural grasses; broad plains 
.suited for root culture; short winters and a comparatively dry cli- 
mate, with nearness to markets. 

Experience has shown that lambs can be raised in Virginia, in 
the spring, and sent to the great Northern markets long before they 
can be put there from tlie farms nearer ; consequently good prices 
can be realized. The low priced lands of Tidewater and Middle 
Virginia are especially well situated for thus supplying early lambs, 
and large areas there a]"e well adapted to the growing of swedes^ 
mangolds, and other crops that are so extensively cultivated in Eng- 
land and elsewhere for fattening sheep. 

Anfjora (roafs have been successfully and profitably raised in Pied- 
mont and Middle Virginia, furnishing lorge fleeces of the valuable 
cashmere wool. 

Bees find in the sections of this State an al)undaut flora, and the 
long and comparatively dry seasons are peculiarly favorable for 
apiculture ; especially does this seem to be the case in Piedmont, 
where large profits are reaped by those that have given some atten- 
tion to this pleasant home industry. 



23 

Swine are easily and cheaply raised iu all portions of Virginia, 
especially in the portions abonnding- in forests, where they snbsist 
much of the year on the nuts of the beech, oak, chestnut, and other 
trees, at no cost to their owners; in fact; they are often fattened en- 
tirely on ''mast." These animals can be reared more cheaply here 
than in almost any other part of the country; consequently they are 
kept in large numbers, and '' Virginia bacon" has a valuable rejiu- 
tation in the markets. The climate is credited with aiding in the 
' ' cure ' ' of hog meat. 

8fo(^c and Beef Cattle — the "other cattle" of the census — including 
all horned cattle, except milch cows and working oxen, are reared 
in large numbers in all j^arts of Virginia, but especially in Pied- 
mont, the Blue Eidge, the Valley and Apalachia, where stock rais- 
ing is an important and profitable branch of husbandry. Large 
numbers of fat cattle are annually sent to the Eastern markets from 
the rich grass lands of the sections named, especially from the por- 
tions where the nutritious and fattening ' ' blue grass ' ' grows. Many 
young stock cattle are also sold to the farmers of the country near 
the large cities M'here they are stall-fed. 

There are vast tracts of mountain land in Virginia that furnish a 
"range " for young cattle, enabling the grazier to rear them at but 
little expense. These tracts of land are covered by a growth of 
timber, more or less heavy, beneath which is an undergrowth of 
rich- weed, wild gi-asses, &c., that are highly nutritious, and on 
which cattle can sul)sist from April to November. The stock rais- 
ing capacity of the State can hardly be estimated, so great is it. 

The SeaJe and Shell Fish of Virginia furnish not only a large por- 
tion of the animal food of thousands of the people of Virginia, 
esi^ecially in the Tidewater country, but immense numbers are taken 
from the waters of this and shipped to other States. 

The thousands of square miles of Virginia territory covered by 
tidal waters abound, in the proper seasons, in shad, herring, rock, 
perch, sturgeon, sheep's-head, bass, chub, spots, hogfish, trout, 
tailor, Spanish mackerel and other fish, besides crabs, lobsters, ter- 
rapins, &c. The fishing season opens early, and while the waters 
near New York, Philadelphia, and other cities in a higher latitude 
are yet frozen, the shad and other spring fish can be caught in Vir- 
ginia waters and sent to Northern and Northwestern markets, where 
they command high prices. Many of the fresh water streams of 
the State abound in many kinds of fish, and both the State and the 
United States authorities are stocking them with other varieties. 
No counti-y has more or better streams for fish breeding. 

Oysters are found in all the tributaries of Chesapeake Bay and 
along the Atlantic coast, giving to Tidewater an extensive territory 
where this valuable shell fish grows naturally and where it can be 
propagated and reared in almost any desired quantity. 

An industry that is receiving some attention and will be largely 
developed, is the raising of oysters. For some years the supply of 
oysters from the Chesapeake has been growing less, and the demand 
increasing. Under the i^resent system of depletion, the supply will 
soon be altogether inadequate to the demand, and prices will neces- 



24 

sarily be higher even than at present, and the man wlio has a well- 
stocked " oyster shore '' can always find ready sale for all his oysters 
at good prices. There is little expense attending the bnsiness, and 
the difference between the cost of the oysters '^ bedded " when small, 
find the price realized for them as ''cove" oysters a year or so after- 
wards, will leave a wide margin of x3rofit. There is no reason why 
the artificial propagation of oysters should not be conducted on an 
-extensive scale. In France there are oyster farms that pay an an- 
nual profit of $500 to $600 an acre. 

Birds for food are abundant, especially water fowl, in the great 
marshes and rivers of Tidewater, where canvas-back, mallard, creek, 
red-head, bald-face, teal and other ducks, geese, swans, sora, &c., 
swarm abundantly. In all x^ortions of the State are found j^artridges 
or quails, pigeons, wild doves, grouse or pheasants, wild turkeys, 
and other game birds. 

Wild Beer are found in all jiortions of the State, especially in Tide- 
water and the Middle and Mountain sections. 

The statistics give Virginia most amj)le resources of animal food, 
sufficient for a i)oi3ulation many times as numerous as she now has. 
Nowhere is this kind of food better or cheaper. 

This State has always been noted for the general excellence of the 
horses and mules bred in it, and it is well known that they can be 
reared cheaply in almost any section. 



25 



Mineral Wealth of Virginia. 



By Gen. J. D. Imboden. 



It is very difficult, within the limits of a publication like this, to 
present with anything like detail a fair statement of the enormous 
mineral resources of the State. For all practical purposes, they 
are boundless in extent, and their distribution is such as to warrant 
the assertion that before the close of the present century the aggre- 
gate product of our mines will surpass in value those of any other 
State in the Union. 

Between the Atlantic coast and the western boundaries of the 
State, the whole "geological column" is represented, from the foun- 
dation granite to the capstones of the upper carboniferous. And 
in these successive strata are found the rocks and minerals peculiar 
to each all over the world, and usually in greater abundance and of 
greater excellence than anywhere else within the same area. 

It would require the space of a large volume to indicate all the 
localities where these underground treasures are now known to exist, 
and to describe their specific qualities and estimate their quantities. 
We must, therefore, be content with a few general statements. 

IRON ORES. 

More than half the counties in the State contain mines of this 
invaluable mineral in ample quantities to give employment to thou- 
sands of men for ages yet to come. 

The varieties in different localities are— 

Magnetites (magnetic ore, so called because of its polarity, or mys- 
terious power of attracting the magnetic needlej. 

Limonites (more commonly called brown hematite), and 

8i)ecular, or red hematite ore. 

The magnetites abound in the Piedmont counties along the south- 
eastern water-shed of the Blue Eidge, in the James Eiver Valley, 
and in the high plateau counties of Floyd, Carroll and Grayson, 
drained by New River and tributaries. And in Smyth and Wash- 
ington, and some others of the southwestern counties, a semi-mag- 
netic ore is found of great excellence, but not usually stratified with 
the encasing rocks as the magnetites i^roper are generally found to 



2C) 

be. All these ores are of peculiar value, inasmuch as they are^ 
almost without exception, so low in phosphorous as to be adapted 
to the manufacture of Bessemer steel, that is so fast superseding 
iron in all structural work. 

The hematites, both brown and red, have a much wider distribu- 
tion. The brown exists in every county between the head of Tide- 
water and the western boundaries of the State. They are most 
abundant west of the Blue Ridge, or rather on the western slopes of 
that range of mountains, and in the hills, mountains and valleys 
beyond, all the way from the Potomac to the Tennessee line. The 
quantity of this class of ore througout all that region is beyond all 
comj3utation. And where the railroads from the coal regions cross 
or penetrate this vast field of ore supply, and bring in the needed 
fuel for their reduction, large modern furnaces are springing up, 
and give assurance that at an early day Virginia will rank amongst 
the foremost States in this great industry. 

The red hematites and fossil ores are chiefly found in the south- 
western counties, beyond the Alleghany, where it merges in the 
Blue Ridge, a few miles west of Salem, in Roanoke county. Th& 
existence of these valuable ores in close proximity to coal and the 
magnetites of East Tennessee and AVestern North Carolina, are 
now attracting the most lively attention of Northern and foreign 
capitalists, with every indication that, within less than ten years, 
numerous short railroads will be built, as the necessary foundation 
for the inauguration of the business of Bessemer steel-making in 
that section of our State on a scale never before thought of in any 
part of the South. 

COAL. 

In the immediate vicinity of Richmond, lying on both sides of 
James River, the longest worked coal field in the United States 
exists. The coal is bituminous, and has long been esteemed as an 
excellent domestic fuel, and for foundry and blacksmith work, and 
the generation of steam. Coal was shipped from this field to Phila- 
delphia before the Pennsylvania mines were worked. The field is 
from ten to twelve miles wide, and from thirty to forty in length, 
and in many places the seams are of enormous thickness. As a 
convenient supply to Richmond and towns and vessels on James 
River, this coal is an important element of wealth in the State. 

Smaller but similar mines exist near Farmville, but have never 
been extensively worked. 

In Botetourt, Pulaski, Montgomery and Wythe counties are some- 
what extensive dei^osits of a semi- anthracite coal of local importance 
and value, furnishing a good domestic fuel. It is also used in the 
great zinc reduction works at Pulaski, and at the salt works in 
Washington county. 

In Rockingham and Augusta counties are some irregular seams 
of true anthracite, but their extent and commercial value have not 
been determined. 

The great Virginia coal field lies in the counties of Tazewell, Rus- 



27 

sell, Bnclianan, Dickenson, Wise, Lee and Scott. In these counties 
from eight Imndred to one thousand square miles are underlaid 
with numerous seams of as pure and rich bituminous and cannel 
coal as have been found in the world. The bituminous coals propei' 
cover the whole area mentioned — the splint more than two-thirds of 
it, and the cannel coal a much smaller and as yet undetermined 
area. These coals are in the Lower and Middle productive measures^ 
At Pocahontas, in Tazewell, where the mines now yield about one 
million tons per annum, onlj^ the Lower measures are worked, where 
a coal similar to that on New Eiver, in West Virginia, is found in 
much larger seams than in West Virginia. In Eussell, Buchanan^ 
Dickenson, Wise, Lee and Scott, there are generally four, but in 
some places six seams of unsurpassed coal for all purposes, includ- 
ing coking coals that make a coke seven per cent, richer in carbon 
and freer from sulphur and ash than the celebrated Connellsville 
coke of Pennsylvania, and four per cent, better than the Alabama 
coke that is so rapidly building up a vast iron production in that 
State. Several railroads to and through this immense storage of 
the best fuel for metallurgical purposes, for gas production, steam 
and domestic use, are projected. The companies are organized, and 
there is every indication that within the next ten years the develoiD- 
ment in that section of the State will surpass anything in its history. 
The best of the iron ores above mentioned are in close proximity to 
these coals; and the agricultural resources of that j^art of the State 
are adequate to the support of an immense industrial population. 

ZINC. 

At Pulaski, on the Norfolk and Western Eailroad, in Southwest- 
ern Virginia, are located the largest zinc works in the South, with 
a supply of ore ascertained to be millions of tons. In numerous 
other localities in the same section of the State, this valuable metal 
is found, and doubtless will lead to the erection of other works. 

LEAD. 

In Wythe county lead has been extensively mined for over one 
hundred years. At the present time the largest lead works in the 
South are carried on there, with apparently an exhaustless supply 
of ore. In the same section other mines of great value have l3een 
found, and measures are on foot to develope some of them. In Nel- 
son county there is an old lead mine that seems only to have lacked 
capital to have become more valuable. 

COPPER. 

In Carroll, Floyd and Grayson counties, large veins of coj^per 
ores, sulphurets and carbonates exist, and prior to the war some of 
them were successfully worked. But their remoteness from railway 
lines has deterred capitalists from re-establishing these mining opera- 
tions. There is some prospect that at an early day a railroad will 



28 

penetrate that region, and lead to the re- opening of these valuable 
mines. 

In several of the Piedmont counties copper ores are known to 
exist, but the mines have never been operated, except in Loudoun, 
and Amherst, where much valuable ore has been raised and shipped 
to the North. 

TIN. 

In Eockbridge and Nelson counties, tin has been found, with in- 
dications that the mines are extensive. The quality of the ore has 
been ascertained by analysis to be excellent, and it is expected from 
the partial openings made, that the quantity will be sufficient to 
insure adequate capital for the full development of the mines. 

MANGANESE. 

This mineral is found widely disseminated in Virginia in the form 
of the black oxide, and as manganiferous iron ore. The most pro- 
ductive manganese mine now worked in the United States is that of 
the Crimora Company, in Augusta county, at the western base of 
the Blue Eidge, near Waynesboro' . Other deposits that are thought 
to be as large, have recently been brought to light within a few 
miles of Crimora, between the Shenandoah Valley railroad and the 
Blue Eidge. 

GOLD. 

There is a well defined belt of gold-bearing quartz running across 
the State through the counties of Prince William, Stafford, Spott- 
sylvania, Louisa, Fluvanna, Goochland, Buckingham, Prince Ed- 
ward, Charlotte and Halifax. In many places on this belt mines 
have been opened from time to time, and worked with profit and 
success. With the progress of scientific improvement in the ex- 
traction of gold, it may fairly be expected that gold mining in Vir- 
ginia will become an extensive industry. This precious metal has 
also been found in Montgomery county. And in the Blue Eidge 
range of mountains, in Eoanoke and Patrick counties, silver ores 
have recently been found that give promise of valuable results. 

MICA AND PLUMEAGO. 

In several of the counties near Eichmond deposits of these min- 
erals have been found, and to some extent worked with i^rofit. 

ASBESTOS AND STEATITE. '"] 

Asbestos of good quality and workable quantity exists in the 
counties lying between the upper James and the ujjper Dan rivers, 
at several j)laces, notably in Pittsylvania, Henry and Patrick. 
Steatite (soapstone) of fine quality for resisting the most intense 
heat, is found in Amelia, Albemarle and some other counties of 
Middle and Piedmont Virainia. 



29 

KAOLIN AND FIRE CLAYS. 

These valuable substances have been found in large quantities in 
many of the Piedmont counties, and in Augusta county, near the 
Blue Eidge. The latter deposit is extensively worked. 

LIME AND CEMENT. 

Metamori^hic limestones exist in the valley of James Elver, between 
Eichmond and Lynchburg. Silurian limestone extends from the 
Potomac to Tennessee, in great variety. Since the discovery that 
building-lime with a large percentage of the carbonate of magnesia^ 
is a poor material to use in the mortar of large buildings and other 
permanent works of masonry and brick, peculiar value attaches to 
beds of pure carbonate of lime. Such beds fortunately exist at 
convenient localities in the great Shenandoah Valley, and lime- 
burning is already carried on there at two points — Eiverton, in 
"Warren county, and Eagle Eock, in Botetourt — where an article is 
produced entirely free from magnesia, and is in great demand for 
city work, where the sulphurous fumes of coal combustion are so 
destructive to magnesian-lime mortar. As this pure limestone 
exists in many j)laces, the industry is a rapidly-growing and a 
profitable one. 

Most excellent hydraulic cement has been produced for many 
years and in large quantity at Balcony Falls, in Eockbridge county. 
The stone is also found in Bedford, near Buford's Gap, but has not 
been utilized. 

PLASTER (gypsum). 

On the waters of the North Fork of Holston Eiver, in the coun- 
ties of Smyth and Washington, there are many miles in length of 
an immense ledge of gypsum, as pure as that brought from N^ova 
Scotia. It has been penetrated to the depth of nearly 600 feet and 
no bottom found. We have here a quantity of this valuable ferti- 
lizer that is practically exhaustless for centuries to come. 

SALT. 

In conjunction with the above-mentioned plaster bank, the cele- 
brated wells of salt exist, that have been used for about a century 
at Saltville, in Washington county, and during the late civil war 
supplied nearly the whole Confederacy east of the Mississippi with 
the indispensable article of salt of the greatest purity. Xo dimi- 
nution in supply or quality has ever been detected. The produc- 
tion now is about half a million bushels annually. 

MARL. 

In many of the Tidewater counties enormous beds of blue and 
green sand marl and shells are found but a few feet below the sur- 



30 

face, supplyiug a fertilizing- material at a iioiuiual cost that is rapidly 
couvertiug all that regiou into the garden spot of the continent for 
supplying the great cities of the Atlantic coast with table vegeta- 
bles of the highest excellence, and is giving such importance to the 
peanut culture. 

SULPHIJRET OF IKON (PYRITES). 

Immense mines of pyrites are worked in Louisa county and the 
products shipped north for the use of sulphuric acid manufactories. 
So important has this industry become that branch railroads have 
been run to the mines from the main line of the Newport News and 
Mississippi Valley Railroad. Other large deposits exist in the 
mountain regions bordering on North Carolina^ but needing a rail- 
road for their development. 

BARYTA. 

Great quantities of this mineral have been shipped from the Val- 
ley and southwestern counties since the war. 

BUTLDINd STONES. 

Virginia probably stands first amongst the States in the variety 
and beauty of her building stones, beginning with her granites and 
slates in eastern Virginia and extending to her limestones in the 
west, her brownstones in several eastern counties, her marbles in 
Loudoun, Rockingham, Augusta, Rockbridge, Bedford, Russell and 
Scott counties, and ending with the beautiful sandstones of the south- 
western coalfield in half a dozen counties. This merely cursory 
glance at our mineral resources is all that we have space for. The 
cabinet of specimens being collected by the Department of Agricul- 
ture, at Richmond, will bear out and illu.strate the text of this re- 
port in a most striking manner to the eye of any stranger who will 
call and examine it. 

TIMBER RESOURCES OF VIRGINIA. 

The great timber regions of the State are located at its oi^posite 
extremes. The Dismal Swamp forests have been ^ ' a mine of wealth ' ' 
to their owners since the war. From Suffolk two narrow gauge 
roads have been built through these forests for the sole purpose of 
hauling out the lumber from numerous saw-mills. Pine and cypress 
predominate in that section. Nearly all the south side counties ly- 
ing l)etween the James river and North Carolina are productive of 
large quantities of excellent jDine and white oak lumber. As we 
approach the Blue Ridge the pine gives place to the hard woods. 
The forests of Franklin, Henry and Patrick are valuable, even uj) 
to the summit of the mountains, and lumbermen have found their 
way in there, cutting black walnut, poplar, white oak, ash and hick- 
• ory. All over eastern Virginia the l)lack and red oaks grow, and 



31 

liave supplied, and for a loug time will continue to furnish, large 
quantities of bark for tanning purposes. In the Shenandoah Valley, 
except along the slopes of its bordering mountains there is no great 
•quantity of lumber to be had ; but in the mountains lying west of 
the valley there is a great deal of valuable hard wood timber still 
standing. But the timber region par excellence of the State is in the 
southwest. In the counties of Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise the 
forests are immense. The population is sparse, and the timber is so 
Iieavy that clearing the land is difficult. Hence the opened farms 
are far apart, and are, as a rule, mere patches in the wilderness of 
trees. Black walnut, poplar, chestnut, hickory, maple, ash, white 
oak, black oak, chestnut oak, beech, birch, sugar and red majjles, 
and some hemlock in the dark hollows are the trees one meets with. 
Sometimes a spot of a few hundred acres is found covered with wild 
-cherry. All the trees mentioned attain an enormous size in these 
forests. All the other counties of the southwest abound in the same 
kind of timber, but generally there has been much more clearing- 
done, especially of the fertile grazing lands along the rivers and 
smaller water courses than in the three counties mentioned. Still 
their hills and mountains are clad with dense forests of nearly all 
the trees named. The southeastern end of Washington county, 
which 'extends to the summit of the great Iron Mountain, contains 
50,000 to 100,000 acres of white pine in its virgin state. At least 
half of this area is covered with trees of white pine of great size 
and value. A railroad through that section, either along the west- 
ern base of the mountain or across the white pine belt from Grayson 
county through a gap in the mountain to Bristol -Goodson, Wash- 
ington county, would open up this valuable forest to the lumber- 
man. 

It may be said in conclusion, under this head, that no State in the 
Union is better supplied with timber for its uses in all sections and 
with a very large surplus for export from many localities tlian Vir- 
ginia. This fact is attracting wide-spread attention and is having 
no sMall influence in attracting population and capital to the State 
since the forests of the great noithwest are approaching exhaustion. 



Further Information. 



For tlie information of those looking to Virginia as a home, in 
addition to the general advantages of geographical position, climate, 
variety of soil and health, attention is called to the facts hereinafter 
set out, and which are furnished by the Commissioner of Agricul- 
ture, and have been published by him in his Annual Eeport, and 
rest on most reliable evidence. 

MINERAL RESOURCES OF VIRGINIA. 

The minerals are so varied and so widespread as to compel only 
a casual mention. The Tidewater region along its rivers is under- 
laid with beds of green sand other marls and that is unrivalled in 
fertilizing effect on the adjacent lands, and is so valuable as in some 
instances to bear transportation. 

Stretching across Middle Virginia, from northeast to southwest, 
is a gold belt, where from the early ages of the country mining for 
gold has been profitable, and is still to some extent pursued, though 
the larger profits from the farm and the greater rate of return from 
other mining and manufacturing pursuits, have dwarfed this one. 

Iron is found in inexhaustible quantities along the whole extent 
of the Blue Eidge, and its outstanding spars and ranges. In many 
places in the Valley, Southwest Virginia, and among the western 
mountains, these deposits are not only so large as to defy ex- 
haustion, but are of a richness and variety of ore no where found 
in the United States — embracing every variety of iron, and found 
too in close proximity to coal that produces coke of the most supe- 
rior quality, manganese for the production of the Bessemer varie- 
ties, and limestone in illimitable quantities. 

The coal-fields of Virginia are of wider extent, comprising a 
greater variety of coal, and are more cheaply mined, than those of 
any part of the world except West Virginia. 

Besides gold, iron and coal, Virginia produces in quantities sul- 
phur, lime, plaster, salt, baytes, ochre, mica, slate, soapstone, mar- 
ble, brownstone, granite, manganese, kaolin, earth j)aints, cement, 
marls, pipe clay, fire-brick, &c. 

Timbers. — Though large portions of the best lands have been 
cleared, there are still large bodies of fine original growth of cy- 



press, pine, oaks of all kinds, hickory, walnut, cherry, cucumber, 
chestnut, maple and sycamore, and all the woods that grow in this 
climate, the growth being more varied here than in most States by 
reason of the greater variety of soil and exposure. 

Mining and manufacturing have made large strides here in the 
last ten years; the increase in the capital employed in them in that 
time amounting to forty million dollars. 

FEUIT. 

In the last year there has been a great increase in the planting of 
fruit and the erection of canneries. The increase in the prepara- 
tion for producing and canning peaches and berries and the evapo- 
ration of apples is very great, and the exhibition of fruit at the 
Exposition has astounded those unacquainted with the fruit sections. 
It is now an established fact, that Virginia has the greatest range 
of fruit production of any State in the Union, Her tidewaters and 
southern borders in fruits and berries can vie with States bordering 
on the tropics while her grand mountain range reaching down into 
Piedmont Virginia, furnish many winter apples rivaling I^ew Eng- 
land and ISTew York in their own native and choicest varieties. 
All the fruits, and nearly everywhere, grow well in Virginia, and 
there are very many instances of reasonable fortunes made in fruit- 
growing. The vineyards and wines of Piedmont, and especially of 
Albemarle, have become a great industry with a national reputa- 
tion, and the display of several of the counties at the Exposition of 
grapes and choice home-made wines satisfied visitors from other 
States that Virginia can profitably grow grapes for the table and 
the wine-cellar. 

DAIRYING. 

It is no longer a question for debate whether Virginia can j)rofit- 
ably be a dairy State. The entire country from Tidewater to the 
Alleghany mountains has all the elements and can abundantly pro- 
duce everything necessary to the production of the best milk and 
butter in the largest quantity and of the best quality; while yet her 
creameries are in their infancy, they are shipping their products at 
a good profit to Toledo, Ohio, New York, Baltimore and Washing- 
ton, where they compete with the Elgin, New York and Pennsyl- 
vania creameries; while the open field of the south lies invitingly 
before them and promises in the near future an ample return for this 
Industry. 

To those who would engage in horse, cattle and sheep raising, 
the short winters, early springs, tight sods, good grasses, cheap 
lands, fresh running water, which does not have to be kept open by 
cutting ice in the winter, and nearness to Eastern markets which 
rule prices, present advantages which cannot be ignored. 

LABOE. 

The farm and mining labor in Virginia is cheaper, more easily 
supervised, more contented and less liable to strikes and interrup- 
3 



34 

tions thau that of any northern or western State. There has never 
been a strike in manufacturing or mining ojierations in the State. 
The average price of farm hibor for fifty-two counties reporting to 
the Commissioner of Agriculture is -$9.90 per month and about 50 
cents per day; board or rations furnished by the employer. 

PROFITS FKOM FARMING IN VIRGINIA. 

From careful calculations and reports from entirely reliable 
sources, which have been collated, the returns from money in- 
vested in farming in Virginia amount on good lands, where the 
farmer lives upon it and gives it his individual and close attention, 
from 8 to 12 per cent. ; on poorer lands, from 4 to S per cent. ; these 
figures have been arrived at by taking numbers of farms in differ- 
■ent parts of the State, and putting them first on a central basis, 
taking the landlord's share and putting it into money at the fair 
■ usual market value; and then another plan was followed, giving the 
owner credit for all sales of crops and charging him with all expen- 
ditures in making said crops and striking the balance; a reasonable, 
but small country house rent was allowed and the cost of such farm 
products consumed as would have been i)urchased and consumed if 
in other business. This result, M^hich to many in the north and west 
where the return is not nearly so large, is due in part to the follow- 
ing causes: 

1. Smaller price of lands. Lands can be bought here which in the 
hands of northern and western farmers can and have l)een made to 
produce equal crojjs to those produced by the same parties on lands, 
which bring in the market fron 100 to 500 per cent, more money. 

2. Advantages of climate, giving shorter feeding season, and as 
the feeding season is the expensive season with stock, less expense; 
then, too, the stock comes out in the spring nearly a month earlier, 
and is progressing towards market, while the stock of the northern 
and western farmer is going l)ack day by day, as the last month in 
winter is proverbially the trying one on stock. 

Another advantage in climate is the early market given for lambs, 
truck, «S:c. 

3. Advantages of proximity to market. We are not onlj^ hundreds 
of miles nearer market, but our geographical formation gives us 
1,500 miles of tidal shore, which means water transportation larger 
than that of any State and therefore cheaper. 

4. Advantages of price of labor. Having to pay not more than 
lialf as much for labor as our western neighbors, our products cost 
_pro tanto less than theirs. 

5. Our taxes are less than those of any of the western States, 
amounting all told, county, school, road and State to less in many 
■counties than one doller in the hundred and ranging from 80 cents 
to -$1.15 on the hundred. 

These I'easons will amply account for a fact not at once easily un- 
derstood by persons who do not look below the surface, and which 
wil? be abundantly verified by the instances hereinafter set out. 



SOMETHING ABOUT THE OLD DOMINION 



VIRGINIA 



Description, Resources— A Good Field for Investment. 



Copied, from "DETROIT FREE PRESS." 



Virginia lies in latitude 36° 33' to 39° 27' north, corresponding to 
Southern Europe, Central Asia, Southern Japan and Californiaj 
and is bordered by the Atlantic for 125 miles. It has a land sur- 
face of 40,125 square miles, and water surface 2,325. Population 
in 1880 of 1,512,565, or an average of 38 to the square mile; of this 
number 880,858 were white; 631,615 colored. 

There are six natural grand divisions or belts extending across 
the country from northeast to southwest, following the trend of the 
Atlantic coast and the Appalachian system of mountains. These 
rise from the- sea level by gradual gradations or steps to the heads 
of the valleys in the Appalachian divisions, which have an altitude, 
above tide, 'of 2,000 to 2,800 feet. 

The first of these is known as Tidewater Virginia. This embraces 
the portion lying upon the Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay and its 
tributaries, reaching as far inland as the tide rises, making an 
irregular quadrilateral, averaging 111 miles in length from north 
to south, and 90 in width from east to west, an area of about 11,000 
square miles. This is truly a tidewater region, since every particle of 
it is penetrated by the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its 
rivers, creeks, bays, inlets, etc., which give about 1,500 miles of 
tidal shore line, and the Chesapeake Bay and the channel twelve 
miles wide between the Virginia Capes, furnishes the outlet for 
50,000 square miles of water drainage. 

The soil of this tidewater plain, nearly 100 miles wide, and rising 
in three successive terraces to a height of 150 feet, varies from the 
rich alluvials and river bottoms and the salt-water meadows, to the 
plains, upland slopes and ridges, with a moderate proportion of 
^'pocoson," or swamj) land. The first three of these are unsur- 
passed in fertility and adaptation to truck and market gardening, 



36 

"wMle the plains, uplands and ridges, though thinner and in some 
cases worn, are easily reclaimed and improved, and by reason of 
the underlying marl and the great abundance of oyster-shells and 
refuse fish, are readily made to produce well and give handsome re- 
turns to the trucker, corn and peanut growers, and to the sheep 
raiser, as an advantage of one month in the season, by reason of 
the climate, gives the trucker, who nowhere is ten miles from water 
transportation, control of the Baltimore, Philadelphia, Xew York 
and Boston markets, from the farthest of which he is not over thir- 
ty-six hours, for fully a month at the season when j)rices are high- 
est and, therefore, profits greatest. 

The next of these divisions is called, for convenience. Middle 
Virginia, and reaches in a parallel belt across the State, from the 
Tidewater belt to the outlying spurs of the Blue Ridge. Its general 
form is a large right-angled triangle, with an area of about 12,470 
square miles; it is a great moderately undulating plain, from 25 to 
100 miles wide, and rising from the rocky verge of its eastern line 
at the head of tide, from 150 to 200 feet above tide, to 300 to 50O 
at its western border. 

The soil of this division takes its character from its rocks, gneiss 
— a combination of quartz and feldspar — it is underlaid with granite 
which crops out along the eastern line where it meets the tidewater 
section, giving the famous Richmond granite, equal to any in the 
world, and in inexhaustible quantities. Along the streams it is 
very rich, producing corn, wheat, tobacco, and all the crops and 
fruits of the latitude. The hills vary from very thin to better 
quality, where the rock is more readily decomposed, and some sec- 
tions of this belt, in its uplands as well as its bottoms, are very fer- 
tile. It is easily worked, and readily responds to the use of fer- 
tilizers. 

Piedmont is the next division, stretching from the Potomac on 
the north, to the North Carolina line on the south, along the eastern 
base of the Blue Ridge, having an average width of twenty-five 
miles, and lying between the detached spurs, known as the coast 
range, and the Blue Ridge. It has an elevation on its eastern bor- 
der of from 300 to 500 feet, gradually rising until, at the foot of the 
ridge, on its western border, it attains an elevation of from 600 to 
1,200 feet. 

The soil of this section, formed from the disintegration of its 
rocks, is something similar to that of Middle Virginia, but the 
gneiss here contains, generally, not much mica, but more or less 
chlorite, and very often horneblende and iron pyrites, the latter a 
powerful agent in decomposing rocks, and, with the horneblende, 
giving a red hue to the soil, from which it is often called the ''Red- 
land" district — it is of a stronger character, and is very prolific in 
corn and heavy "shipping tobacco," and brings fine crops of wheat. 
This land takes kindly to grass, and, if in proper condition, will 
coat itself with fine natural grasses. Timothy, clover and orchard 
grass here are very prolific. This is the natural wine belt of that 
part of the Continent east of the Rockies, and wine from the Mon- 
ticello cellars, at Charlottesville, carried off the prize at the Paris 



-'V 

and Xew Orleans Expositions. Apples grow splendidly here, and 
the Albemarle Pippin has a reputation on both sides of the Atlan- 
tic. The elegant water, fresh grasses and heavy grain crops make 
this region fine for dairying, and this industry is largely i)atronized 
and is proving very remunerative. 

The Blue Eidge division embraces the strip occupied by this 
range, extending across the State parallel to the coast, and spread- 
lug out in a fan-shape on its southwest end, to a breadth of twenty 
miles, where the mountain seems to be tlattened out, and the soil is 
rich and of a stiff clay, taking and holding grass, and is the natu- 
xal home of the stock raiser, the soil producing, when cleared of 
trees, the far-famed ''blue grass," equal to grain in fattening and 
superior in growing cattle. Here, too, is grown large quantities of 
:grain and hay. The bowels of the earth are filled with the finest 
€oal, and the surface, where it has not been stripped, with a heavy 
growth of the finest lumber — oak, hickory, chestnut, walnut, cherry, 
pine, hemlock, cedar; etc. The whole length of the Blue Eidge is 
permeated with veins of the finest iron ore, manganese and other 
minerals, and furnaces are rapidly rising all along its base, which 
are turning out iron several dollars cheaper than it can be made in 
Pennsylvania. The salt and gypsum basins of the southwest furnish 
an abundant supply of salt and gj^psum for all the country round 
about. 

The Valley of Virginia embraces that belt lying between the 
Blue Eidge on the east, and the first of the outlying mountains on 
the west, and has an average width of some twenty miles. There 
are five different valleys that, taken together, comprise this grand 
•division. The Valley of the Shenandoah, 130 miles long; James 
Eiver, 50 miles; Eoanoke Eiver, 38 miles: ^ew Eiver, .54 miles; 
Holston and Tennessee, 52 miles. The soil is generally of limestone 
foundation and unsurpassed fertility, being similar to that of Lan- 
caster Co., Pa., where lands sell from $200 to $300 per acre. Its 
productions are wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, and all the grasses. 
Besides farming proper, which is very profitable here, raising and 
fattening cattle and sheep for market is largely and profitably fol- 
lowed. Butter- making is beginning to be a profitable industry, and 
the creameries springing up in this section have successfully com- 
peted, as to quality of butter and price, in New York market, with 
the best product of the Elgin butter makers. All the fruits of the 
latitude grow and produce well here, and the sunny slopes of the 
mountains on the west invite to successful fruit and wine growing. 
The fine quality of the lands of this section has denuded the greater 
portion of the surplus timber, but an abundant supply for the lum- 
berman clothes the slopes of the mountain on either side. This 
section has two railroads running nearly i^arallel through the en- 
tire length, and is crossed from east to west by five different lines. 
Marble, kaolin, manganese and hematite iron oi-es are found liberally 
distributed, while anthracite coal is found all along its western bar- 
xier. The Valley has an elevation ranging from Harper's Ferry, 
where the Potomac and Shenandoah unite and break through the 
Blue Eidge, of 212 to 2,594 feet, and its western side being fi-om 



38 

500 to 1,000 feet above its eastern, presents its whole surface held 
up at an angle to the sun. Its drainage and water-power are un- 
surpassed. 

Appalachia is a belt of country directly west of the Valley, 260 
miles from northeast to southwest, and varies from ten to fifty miles 
in width. It is traversed by parallel ranges of mountains, with 
narrow, fertile valleys between, and embraces some 5,720 square 
m.iles. These mountains are filled with the richest of iron ores, 
and covered with a growth of oak, chestnut, hickory, walnut, 
cherry, i^oplar, cucumber and other valuable lumber. The soil on 
some of these mountains is worthless, but on many others, and espe- 
cially where there is limestone, and where the sandstone is mixed 
with iron, is very fertile, the famous blue grass coming wherever 
the trees are belted, deadened or cut down, and affording the finest 
cattle grazing and ranging known, as its elevation makes it pleas- 
ant in the warmest weather, and frees it from gnats and flies, and 
its soft, cool and healthfnl water bursts from every hollow in the 
mountain sides. The valleys furnish hay for wintering and grass 
for summer grazing for cattle tliat weigh, at 3 and 4 years, 1,200 to 
1,600 pounds, and supply, in part, the demand for cattle to ship ta 
the English market. 

Virginia lies in the region of middle latitudes, and is entitled ta 
a mild climate, but there are other and intervening causes that give 
her great advantages over other sections in the same belt. The 
Api)alachian chain that stretches along her western border shelters 
her against the storms that rise in the great west and northwest, 
and gathering force as they go, carry death and destruction in their 
13ath; if of cold, freezing the haj^less stock and chilling the heart 
and energies of the settlers ; if of wind, prostrating forest and 
dwelling in their path, and making the death mark bi-oad and deej) 
for man and beast in their track — against these rock-ribbed l)arriers 
they beat in vain, and turn to the northeast or the soutliwest, as the 
case may be. The projecting capes along the North Carolina coast, 
reaching out as natm-al breakwaters, turn the storms born on the 
ocean and cradled in its waves, away from our coasts, to break on 
the shore of New England and Nova Scotia, while the navies of the- 
world can ride at safe anchor inside the capes of Virginia. 

Fifty miles out from her shores the Gulf Stream suj)plies a con- 
stant heating apparatus, miles in width, and the eastern winds^ 
warmed by it, take up their loads of moisture and, floating inward 
and upward, as the land rises from tidewater to Api^alachia, dej^osit 
in gentle showers the moistui-e and heat that warm and gladden and 
fructify the earth, and as the gradual rise brings these clouds into- 
a cooler atmosphere, they deposit additional portions, until the 
lofty Alleghanies, with their timbered tops, milk tliem dry. 

The average temperature for eleven difl'erent points in Virginia 
during the months of January and Jnly, was, for January, 12°, for 
July, 78° — the highest of these being 47° and 83°, and the lowest 
37° and 71°; while for the same period for St. Paul it was 14° and 
73°; St. Loliis, 33° and 77°. Cincinnati, 33° and 76°— the last] twa 
in the same belt with Virginia; Boston, 25° and 72°; Charleston,, 



39 

S. C, 48° and 80°; Washington, D. C, 35° and 78°; Fort Snening^ 
13° and 73° — this difference in temperature has two phases of ad^ 
vantage: it gives a longer season for work and more comfort wliile 
working, and at tlie same time gives the advantage of at least a. 
month in the lamb, fish and vegetable market, in the northern 
cities, at the season when prices are best. Of the prevailing windS). 
those that bloAv from the south quadrant, are to those that blow 
from the north quadrant, as six to four. 

Virginia lies in the belt in which the annual precipitation is from 
thirty-two to forty-two inches of rain, and the tables show that this 
precipitation is well distributed, moderate in April and early 
May, planting time, more abundant in later May and early June, 
growing time, less in late June and July, harvest time, and more 
abundant in October and I^ovember, after seeding. 

The healthfulness of the climate is what might be expected from 
exemptions from storms and extremes of heat and cold, and from a 
well distributed rainfall. 

Selecting the period of from 21 to 24 years of age, Virginia, out 
of 100.000, had 7,476 ; the average for the United States was 7,475^ 
Maryland, 7,202; New Hampshire, 7,071; New York, 7,059; Illi- 
nois,' 7,367 ; North Carolina, 6,840. In the period of 50 to 54, Vir- 
ginia had 3, 580 ; Illinois, 3,228; Kentucky, 3,089; and the United 
States, 3,548. From 75 to 79, Virginia had 525 ; United States, 
455 ; Maryland, 458 ; Kentucky, 388 ; North Carolina, 464 ; Ten- 
nessee, 358 ; Texas, 169 ; and Pennsylvania, 15. From 90 to 99, 
Virginia had 81 ; United States, 43. Of those over 100, Virginia, 
had 19 ; United States, 9 ; Connecticut, 4; Massachusetts, 3; Penn- 
sylvania, 3 ; and New York, 4. 

Virginia has a system of public schools unsurpassed by any of 
the States, and which has its foundation both in the Constitution of 
the State and affection of the people. The moral tone of the i)eo- 
ple is seen in there being less than nine convictions during the year 
for 10,000 of population, and only ten in 10,000 held in jail, mostly 
for minor offenses. Only 317 out of every 10,000 were the recipi- 
ents of publio charity. This record compares favorably with any 
country in the world. 

These lands may be bought from 12 to $50 per acre, and a warm 
welcome awaits all comers of good character, of whatever country^ 
politics or religion. 



A. NORTHERN MAN'S EXPERIENCE IN VIRGINIA. 
FARMING. 

Editor Southern Planter and Farmer : 

According to promise, I write you this letter; and as I do not set 
myself up as a leader in the noble pursuit of agriculture, I think 
perhaps you, as well as the readers of your valuable journal, will be 
more interested if I give you my views of Virginia farming from a 
Northern standpoint. 

I located in Virginia immediately after the war, and purchased a 



40 

farm in the upper James Eiver Valley twelve years ago this spring, 
and have been actively engaged in agricultural pursuits ever since. 
My first purchase was of a farm of 300 acres, for which I paid five 
dollars per acre. It is located about two miles back from the river; 
had no fences or buildings on it of any kind, the dwelling having 
been burned some years before. It was what is called here a poor 
worn-out farm, but was a very nice gray and chocolate soil, with an 
excellent red-clay subsoil. By way of encouragement, my neighbors 
told me I would starve on that farm. 

One-half the land was in forest and second-growth timber ; the 
balance more or less grown up in bushes. I first grubbed and 
cleared up about ten acres, put it in corn, and got a very good crop. 
I then followed the corn with wheat, which was my first crop 
of that staple. The field averaged at least twenty bushels per 
acre, and I sold it in Richmond market for |2 per bushel. Thus 
you see my gross receipts were nearly !j<40 per acre. I used not a 
IDarticle of manure or fertilizer on either the corn or wheat crop. I 
think that was doing well on land that only cost fS per acre; and I 
told my neighbors if that was the way I was going to starve to death, 
I would like to get some more such laud to starve on. 

I attribute the large yield of corn and wheat simply to deep plow- 
ing. I plowed from eight to ten acres, and turned up soil that had 
not been reached for years before, if ever. 

Before purchasing a farm in Virginia I had Kansas or Western 
fever, and intended to go West; but, fortunately, I was speaking 
to a friend one day of my intention, and he advised me by all means 
not to go West — that he had a brother in Kansas, and that about 
every other year he was writing him for aid to keep himself and 
family from starvation. One year his crops and buildings were de- 
stroyed by drouth and fire; another year the grasshoppers destroyed 
all vegetation; and a third calamity, a cyclone, had laid waste all 
his buildings, etc. But out of the twelve years that I have farmed 
in Virginia there has been no destruction of crops and buildings 
from grasshoppers, wind or hail, and not a single drouth has pre- 
vented me from making a very fair crop. This has been the worst 
of all seasons, and the damage this year has been principally on the 
corn crop. 

What Virginia wants is a good industrious farmer on every 100 
acres; for high farming pays as well here as in any State in the 
Union. 

My experience in Virginia farming convinces me that the mild- 
ness of the climate will enable a farmer to do almost double the 
work through the year, with the same force of team and hands, that 
can be done in the colder States of the North and West. Besides, 
the length of the season will enable one to make two crops on the 
same land in one year, if he chooses. 

I am also convinced that for stock-raising this upper James River 
Valley cannot be excelled. It is abundantly watered with never- 
failing streams, and S])rings of pure, cold, soft water; and some 
years stock will do well to run out all winter without being fed or 
housed. And the grasses, such as white clover and blue ^rass, are 



41 

indigenous to the soil; and as fine crops of clover and timothy are 
raised here as can be grown in New York or Pennsjivauia. 

Why people from the N^orth and East continue to go West for 
farming lands, when they can get them equally as cheap in Virginia 
(in many instances for less than the improvements on them cost), 
and not more than a day's ride from their present homes, is more 
than I can understand. Admit, for argument's sake, that the virgin 
soil of the West is more fertile than the lands in Virginia. Will 
that make up for the entire absence of forest for fuel or building 
material, sluggish or shallow streams, no brooks made up from 
springs, rough state of society, lack of schools and churches, high 
jjrice of farm labor, and the difficulty of procuring female em- 
l^loyees, to say nothing of climate, society, market, etc. ^ Surely 
not. And I am satisfied of the fact that it will cost less to restore 
the lands of Virginia, when they are badly worn, than it will to 
clear up a new place in the West and get it ready for production. 

But under the old system of farming in Virginia the lands never 
have attained one-third of their productive capacity, and one can 
scarcely form any estimate of their powers of jiroduction. Although 
Virginia has always ranked high as an agricultural State, I predict 
for her one of the brightest futures in agricultural prosperity that 
can be imagined, 

W. A. Parsons. 



VIRGINIA. AS SEEN BY A MICHIGANDER. 

Extract from a letter written by W. H. Marvin, editor of Utica 
Sentinel (Mich.), from Richmond, Va., June 80, 1888, to his paj^er : 

" We next went in search of Matthew Cross, formerly a resident 
of McConib county, Michigan, who lives on a farm about five miles 
from Richmond. 

''The walking being very good, and wishing to stop and talk 
with every one whom we might meet on the road, or see walking in 
the fields near by, we started out on foot. 

"We found Matthew and his family on one of the best 160-acre 
farms we ever saw, but no better (naturally) than dozens of others 
right around him, which can be had for |20 to $25 per acre. His 
house is of the regular Southei-n build, with chimneys all built out- 
side, there being at least 5,000 bricks in each of the four chimneys; 
and it is just a good sized house, too. The tarm is producing good 
crops, everything growing in abundance; has one of the finest 
streams of water running through it we e^er saw. 

"Matthew keeps six or eight first-class milch cows, and contracts 
all the butter he makes at 30 cents per pound the year round. He 
also got 20 cents per dozen for his eggs the week we were there 
(June). 

"Hay is never less than -flG per ton, and straw never brings less 
than 60 cents jier hundred pounds. Hay and straw bring such 



42 

prices tliat the Southern farmer must always sell them, thereby im- 
poverishering his land : but Matthew, with the true ISTorthern thrifty 
has not sold a spear of hay or straw during the four years he has. 
been there, but, on the contrary, feeds it all to his stock, and theil 
puts the manure on his lands ; in addition, dresses heavily, the re- 
sult being that in about four years time he has one of the most pro- 
ductive farms in the United States, even though his larm was called 
'worn-out tobacco land,' and beyond ever being made anything of, 
though manured and fertilized for a life-time. This fallacy has 
proven to be mere prejudice. 

' ' We called on several Northern families living in the vicinity, 
who were right glad to see us; also several Southerners, and they 
treated us 'odth the greatest of cordiality — say they wished there- 
were more Northern folks living among them." 



LETTER FROM A FORMER CITIZEN OF IOWA— NOW A 
FARMER IN PRINCE EDWARD. 

Becoming tired of the rigors of the Xorthwestei-n winters, and 
not possessing the best of health, I, in company with my father, 
concluded to emigrate to the Sunny Soutli. So, in 1877, we left 
Hardin county, Iowa, and came to Virginia and purchased a farm 
of 350 acres one and a half miles from Hampden-Sidney College, 
Prince Edward county. It cost us about what the buildings were 
worth. The highlands were badly worn out, liaving been rented 
out since the close of the war, and nearly everything carried off the 
place and not much returned to the soil. The soil having a good 
clay sub-soil, we thought it could be made to produce remunerative 
crops if the land was properly cared for. Our hopes have been 
fully verified. The past season we have raised very good crops of 
wheat, rye, oats, sweet and Irish potatoes, soi-ghum and tobacco. 
To improve land we have kept all the stock the farm would carry, 
depending princiimlly on the manure for imiJioving the land. The 
stock are kept under shelter during the winter and kept well bedded 
with forest leaves, straw, &c. , to make all the manure possible. As 
soon as a field is improved sufficiently, it is seeded down to clover 
and grass, in rotation. The past season we have cut two heavy 
crops of clover, and the third has made good grazing. 

The soil of this section is of several varieties — dark and light 
gray sandy soil, red clay, mulatto color, &c. The bottom lauds are 
alluvial and produce good crops of corn, and are kept fertile by the 
winter overflows of the streams. 

We have met with a warmer welcome by the white people than 
we expected we would have, and I think all good Northern people 
will be welcome here. 

When Ave came here we conclnded that the people were about fifty 
years behind the North in nearly all branches of business, but since 
then considerable advancement has been made ; especially is this 
the case with the public school system. The State Normal school at 



Farmville affords a splendid opportunity for edncating female 
teachers, and the ladies are availing themselves of the opportnnity. 
Steam threshing machines are taking the place of the old gronud- 
hog, the reaper and mower of the cradle and scythe ; so the good 
work goes bravely on. 

Hiram Calkins. 



LETTER FROM A RECENT VISITOR TO VIRGINIA. 



From Shenandoah Valley Monthly Dispatch, Middleton, Ya. 



Ed. Dispatch : — Some people of the North labor under the im- 
pression that all Sontliern people are, in common parlance, ' Ter- 
rors let loose. ' All people are liable to make little mistakes, but 
this is an immensely large one. On my recent visit to the Shenan- 
doah Valley, I found that they are most courteous, hosi)itable, hon- 
est, open-handed and large-hearted people. Every grasp of their 
hands denotes that the words of welcome come from low down deep 
in good and honest hearts. If a man is what a man should be, the- 
people of Virginia are a most noble peojjle for him to locate and 
dwell with, no matter what part of the w^orld he may come from. — 
They are not afraid to mention a man's standing in the community, 
and recommend him to the confidence of strangers if he is trust- 
worthy. On the other hand, if there is a rascal among them^ — and 
of course there are some, for they are everywhere — the straight for- 
ward business man don't hesitate to tell strangers of it, and to warn 
them of his unreliability. The great majority of men there, in both 
city and country, are ui^right, brave men, and can geiierally guess 
pretty closely to the kind of man a coat has in it. They are court- 
eous to all gentlemen; they know an insult, and are not afraid to 
resent it. They are just the kind of people that an upright, enter- 
prising man of any country Ukes to associate with. 

Capital and enterprise are wanted, but let not the imjiression be 
gained that these essentials are not to be found there, for they are 
abundant in proportion to the population, but there is room and 
opportunity for immense quantities more. The mineral fields want 
millions of dollars and thousands of strong men to j)lace their sleep- 
ing wealth in the markets of the world. — Those sections l)est adapted 
to agriculture and stock raising want thousands of men with lots of 
enterprise, i)iactical experience and some money to develop and 
cultivate the land and make the thousands of hills the home of fine 
herds of cattle and sheep, with the products of the fai-ms to feed 
those bringing wealth out of the mines and quarries. Then various 
manufactories will be wanted to prepare the surplus products for 
market and for home use. Other parts of the world want all these 
products now slumbering in the possibilities of that section. The 
enterprising people of the Valley of Virginia are fully aware that 
their country wants those features just mentioned, and they are 
ready to welcome enterprise, cai)ital and practical experience, no 



41 

matter where it comes from, whether it be the east, west, north or 
south. They are ready and anxious to join hands with and help 
and encourage whatever agencies may come to aid them in develop- 
ing the great resources of that section. 



Halifax C. H., Va., Jan. 22, 1879.^ 
Dr. Thomas Pollard, 

Commissioner of Agriculture, Richmond, Va. 

Dear Sir, — Please accept my thanks for your kindness in sending 
me your valuable ''Treatise on the Hog," also your Second Annual 
Beport, both of which I have read with pleasure and profit, and feel 
assured their dissemination will be productive of beneficial results. 
Not having the honor of your personal acquaintance, yet realizing 
your love and zeal for the prosperity and growth of the agricultural 
interests of Virginia, I deem it my duty, as well as pleasure, to give 
you a brief account of my antecedents, and the inducements I had 
in moving my family and adopting your State as my future home. 

I have now been a resident of your State fourteen months, arriv- 
ing here in ISi'ovember, 187 7, and purchasing an estate of 365 acres. 
The preceding twenty-five years I had been a resident of Kew York 
city, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. As you are aware, fami- 
lies desirous of changing a city for a country life, the i)roper and 
fashionable thing to do is to go West, and I did go West as far as 
Nebraska. I was particularly pleased with portions of Iowa and 
Eastern Nebraska; first-class farming lauds, limitless in extent, to 
be found in both, but the entire absence of forests ; no fuel nor 
building material on the ground ; sluggish and shallow streams ; no 
brooks made up from springs ; the sparsity of settlers ; lack of 
schools and churches ; high price of labor, and the difficulty of \)vo- 
curing female labor, and their aversion to be considered in the light 
of servants, but in order to retain their services, must have the 
rights and privileges of one of the family, rendered it so objection- 
able that I concluded to look elsewhere. 

After my Western trip, I was induced by friends to travel through 
Virginia, and after looking about pretty thoroughly, made up my 
mind to purchase and settle here, and thus far we do not regret the 
move, and feel assured, all things considered, we could not have 
done better. 

First. We have a large dwelling-house, all the necessary out- 
buildings, orchard, fruit and flower garden, arable and timbered 
lands well watered, and numerous springs, good fences around the 
entire tract, at a less price per acre, including the improvements, 
than the bare prairie can be purchased for in the favored sections of 
Iowa and Nebraska. 

Second. We find ourselves within walking distance {I mile) of 
churches and schools, both public and private. 

Third. We find good help, both male and female, at less than 
half the price demanded at the North and West, and perfectly will- 



45 

ing to be treated and considered as hired seryauts, and, as far as I 
have discovered, equally capable. 

Fourth. AVe have cultivated and refined society in our neighbor- 
hood, who have shown us every kindness and attention, and are 
anxious to enlist northern capital and energy to dwell among them. 

Fifth. The taxes on real and personal property are very light, 
being not one-eighth of the amount levied in and about Xew York 
city, and not over one-half of the amount levied on farms in Ne- 
braska. 

Sixth. The climate is mild and healthful, not subject to the ex- 
tremes of heat and cold as in the Northwest, and having longer sea- 
sons for agricultural labor. 

Seventh. To sum up: Families desirous of securing homes in the 
country can purchase here at less price than at the West, and in- 
stead of having the hare prairie, with no improvements, get im- 
proved farms with the many necessaries and comforts of life" 

Please excuse this lengthy letter, and allow me to remain, 

Yours truly, 

John H. Stevens. 



SAL.T WATER SECTION. 

By consulting any good large map of Virginia, one will readily 
see that the eastern part of the State is all cut up by the Chesa- 
peake and its tributaries. This rough and ragged appearance may 
at first be thought to be detrimental to the agricultural develop- 
ment of this section, but this is far from being the case. It is, in- 
stead, its finest and greatest advantage. The eastern part of the 
State has many streams of water — the Potomac, Rappahannock^ 
Piankatank, Y^ork and James rivers being the principal ones, but 
there are scores of other smaller ones tributary to these larger ones. 
These .streams for say about fifty miles from their mouths, are all 
salt and well supplied with salt water products — fish, oysters, crabs, 
clams, &c. There are no less than nine large and several smaller 
peninsulas in Eastern Virginia. 

It gives this portion of the State over 1, 000 miles of salt water 
frontage, and enables all the farmers on this extended salt water 
front to not only profit from the salt water j)roducts, but also to 
cheaply float their farm j)roducts to market. 

The means of communication with the cities is mainly by boats. 
Nearly every farmer has a sail-boat and a row-boat or two for 
pleasui'e and for business. It is, in short, the "Venice" of Amer- 
ica, and right here on these beautiful arms of the sea is to be de- 
veloped in the next quarter of a century the finest agricultural 
section in the Union. The soil, the w^ater, the air, the sunshine, 
the rainfall, the markets, the transportation, and hundreds of other 
things, are all in favor of this grand development. Nature has 
been most bountiful in her gifts here. Man only needs to do his 
duty to make a paradise of Eastern Virginia. In consulting Wm. 
F. Switzler's Government Eeport of the Internal Commerce of the 



46 

TJnited States for the year 1885, we see that Eastern Virginia raised 
$1,609,(363 worth of orchard products ; that the same section raised 
$2,518,055 worth of peanuts; $9,666,159 worth of corn, which is 
far ahead of any other part of the State. 

Tidewater Virginia also raised 2,524,485 bushels of wheat, which 
amount is only exceeded by two sections of the State, viz:"^ The 
Middle Section and the Valley, these two noted wheat sections ex- 
ceeding Tidewater Virginia only by a few thousand bushels. In 
Irish potatoes, Tidewater raised, in 1885, 477,036 bushels, the larg- 
est amount in the State ; also raised 1,314,377 bushels of sweet 
potatoes, which is double the amount raised by all the rest of the 
State put together. 



KING TOBACCO. 



The originator of the yellow Q^obacco industry, Dr. Davis G. 
Tuck, a native of Halifax county, lived and farmed within two 
and half miles of South Boston, where he invented the flue for cur- 
ing Tobacco and introduced the thermometer to aid in curing the 
yellow type, for which his white sandy loamy soil, lying around 
and west and south of Love's Shop, was so admirably adapted. 
The experiments of Dr. Tuck in this line were begun about the 
commencement of the second quarter of this century, and were 
prompted by the high prices paid for all colory Tobacco of Virginia 
for the French market. 

It is true the ' ' Tuck Flue, ' ' for which the Doctor obtained a 
patent, was defective, and developed a liability to explode and burn 
the barns in which they were constructed, and on that account were 
never extensively used ; yet it was a beginning in the right direc- 
tion, which inventive genius subsequently improved ui)on, and thus 
we now have many inventions in the shape of flues, all based upon 
the principle first inaugurated by Dr. Tuck — i. e., to cure tobacco 
without smoke and as yellow in color as possible. 

It may therefore be said of South Boston, Va., that her borders 
now embrace and border upon the home of the bright yellow type — 
lands on which the first successful experiments were made in de- 
veloping this new and most desirable class of Tobacco. While the 
industry has widely spread and other localities have become noted 
for the superior excellence of its bright yellow product, yet it is a 
fact that the lands of Halifax county, Va , ai'ound South Boston, 
are capable of producing as sui^erlatively fine grades as can be 
found anywhere else. 

Natural advantages in the adaptation of soil and climate to any 
product will soon or late be found out, and where these most abound 
accident or investigation is not slow in their development. The 
surrounding lands of this young, vigorous and thriving Tobacco 
town were the first to be utilized for the fine yellow type, and are 
still capable of producing and do produce more of this type than 
were grown thereon fifty years ago. 

A peculiarity of these lands, and one which greatly enhances 



47 

their permanent value, is tliat, alter being worn down by continu- 
ous and exhaustive cropping, and then turned out, they soon recu- 
perate and grow up in pines and sedge and other growth, and then 
when l)rought back into cultivation, after twenty or thirty years 
rest, produce the finest cutters and smokers, which always command 
high prices. 

There are in Halifax county, Va., to-day many thousands of 
acres of such lauds, ranging in price from 12 to !j?6 per acre, capable 
of producing Tobacco, the product of one acre of which will sell for 
enough to purchase from twenty to thirty acres, and sometimes fifty 
iicres of land, of like quality. There are cases on record of jilanters 
paying for their farms with proceeds from the first crop raised 
thereon; and it is also on record, too, where five to seven hundred 
-dollars and more have been realized from one acre planted in To- 
bacco. 

Can any other crop anywhere else in the world, outside of the 
Bright Yellow Tobacco Belt, show such results f It is undeniably 
true that the extraordinarily fine crops and big j^rices are rare, but 
there are numerous instances where planters have averaged for 
years from twenty to thirty dollars round for their tobacco, realizing 
an average profit of from fifty to one hundred dollars on every acre 
of Tobacco cultivated. What other crop can approach such figures 
in results ! 

Besides fine yellow Tobacco, the lands of Halifax county are 
among the best in Middle Virginia for general farming. They are 
susceptibh^ of a high degree of improvement under good manage- 
ment and improved husbandry, so greatly needed here, as elsewhere 
in the South. We need more and better farmers — men who are ca- 
pable of managing a farm to advantage — who will purchase and 
imjjrove our surplus idle lands, introduce better stock and better 
implements and methods, directed toward diversified crops, which 
pay and pay well. They come too slow for this generation. We 
would gladly welcome them in troops — colonies who come to utilize 
our lands in permanent homes. We want more of the white race to 
oome and insure the domination of intelligence, thrift and moral 
worth in the control and management of our public afi'airs. The 
better class of our people see the situation and recognize the neces- 
sity, and henceforth, as never before, we are for white immigration. 
We will extend the right hand of fellowshijj to all such, come from 
Avhere they may, who are worthy and come among us to better their 
fortunes. 

We candidly believe that take Virginia all in all there is no coun- 
try on the globe superior to it as a home for the man of moderate 
means. There is no more law-loving, law-abiding, peaceful people 
to be found, or more friendly to the deserving stranger who makes 
his home here, than Virginians. Our church and school advantages 
and privileges are superior, and when it comes to climate and 
health fulness no other spot on the globe can compete in these es- 
sentials to man's happiness. 

We have room for thousands of immigrants — farmers, mechanics, 
miners, merchants — to bring new biisiness to all of our necessary 



48 

avocations. South Boston needs factories, and other j^laces in the 
country need lactories. We need more enterprises and a greater 
diversification of industries, as well as in crops. We are blessed 
with an abundance of material to work ujion, and need help to 
properly utilize it; and every effort that is being made to introduce 
and utilize the right kind of help should receive the moral and ma- 
terial support of every good and patriotic citizen of the county. 
We are slowh' correcting some of the mistakes of the past, and al- 
ready see unmistakable indications of better times coming. We are 
in the enjoyment of good local government, and a peaceful poiDula- 
tion; and need only the opening of larger fields of profitable em- 
ployment to bring prosperity and contentment to our j)eople. 
With best wishes, I am yours very truly, 

E. L. Eagland. 



SOUTHWARD THE STAR OP EMPIRE TAKES ITS WAY. 

Ail instructive and valuable paper, under the caption of ''Homes 
in the South,'' from the pen of Mr. John Guilmartin appeared in a 
recent issue of the Boston Pilot. Following is an extract from his 
intelligent testimony as to the promise and j)i"Ogress of this sec- 
tion : 

''It is only a question of time when the South will take the lead 
of the North and the West. New England and the Middle States 
will, of course, have always the advantage of being nearer to Eu- 
ro j)e; but they will not bear comparison with the South as a pro- 
ducing region, nor in time as a manufacturing region ; while its 
proximity to the great highway of the ocean, together with the 
facilities of internal communication it possesses in its system of 
railroads, susceptible of unlimited expansion, and the natural ad- 
vantages of navigable rivers and commodious ports, must give it a 
I)ermanent superiority over the West. It is in the natural order of 
things that the greater part of the trade of South America will 
eventually fall into the control of the Gulf States ; and when the 
Panama Canal is built, as built it must be, if mountains have to be 
moved, now that the project has absorbed so many millions of 
money, the South will take from England a lion's share of the trade 
of China, Japan and India. — Lynchburg Virginian. 



HEALTH OP VIRGINIA. 

Eej)orts of the National Soldiers' Home, near Hampton, Va., for 
1882, show the health of the State as above the average in the 
United States. 

Deaths at branch of National Soldiers' Home, near Dayton, Ohio, 
6. 22 per cent. ; deaths at branch of National Soldiers' Home, at 
Milwaukee, 5.36 per cent.; deaths at branch of National Soldiers' 
Home, at Wisconsin, 5. 36 per cent. ; deaths at branch of National 
Soldiers' Home, at Togus, Me., 3.78 per cent.; deaths at branch 
near Hampton, Va., 3.80 per cent. 



49 



ON TO RICHMOND. 

The writer has upon two occasions made a tour of Virginia hav- 
ing for his object the discovery of the possibilities of the State and 
how these possibilities could be made serviceable to us and to others. 
The most studied investigations leave no question as to the resources 
of the State in all that goes to constitute natural wealth, and the 
work of development now so well begun is destined in a few years 
to place the Old Dominion in the van as an agricultural and manu- 
facturing State. To confirm this we need but state that coal and 
iron lie almost side by side in immeasurable quantities. To these 
add coi^per, zinc, lead and other minerals, timber in primeval forests, 
and the invitation to manufacturers would seem to be wanting in 
no essential. On the other hand the agricultural portion of the 
State is no less favored. There is no condition wanting save intel- 
ligent labor. The Northern farmer can name no convenience that 
he does not possess to greater perfection in Virginia. Indeed every 
advantage is with the Virginia farmer. Soil is good, seasons longer, 
land cheaper, shipping less expensive, prices better, school and 
church privileges second to none, every inducement to cut loose from 
the mortgaged home and own a farm from which greater returns are 
sure to result. 

Admitting the conditions to be as we state them it may be asked 
why has not the State been rapidly peopled with settlers from the 
North and West ? We will give what we believe to be some of the 
reasons. 

Because little has been known of the resources of the State. It 
was generally supposed that its lands were worn out, that what was 
not worn out is mountainous and worthless. In fact a want of in- 
formation is one of the chief reasons for lack of development. 

Then, too, the social conditions were not believed to be inviting, 
and altogether few persons were inclined to give the attentive ear 
to one who was disposed to speak in praise of Virginia. It belonged 
to an "age gone by" and the star of empire had risen in the west. 

Eailroad companies with large grants of land began to boom the 
great West, and having other interests at stake, could afford to carry 
passengers west at a nominal fare or at no fare, trusting to sale of 
land and the removal of families (some of whom were glad to be 
able to remove both ways) for their compensation. 

As a result, the prairies of the West, with unequal advantages^ 
were rapidly developed if not, indeed, overdeveloped. 

Then comes a reaction. Poor water, drouths, pests, hot winds,, 
blizzards, no timber, no coal, famine, uncertainty of crops, high 
shipping rates, bleak, barren and desolate; but advertising did it. 

" The social conditions are unfavorable; a northern man will have 
no standing in the South." This cause was given by a northern 
citizen. 

Our observation is much at fault or he is mistaken. There may 
be more strata in society South than North, but it is the opinion of 
the writer that any man who will conduct himself properly will 
find friends and society in the South suited to his condition. 
4 



50 

There is no danger of overdoing the matter of immigration as the 
State is ecxual to the greatest demands that can be made upon it. 

Its every valley may become a perennial garden, and its hills 
illumined with the blaze of furnaces. The possibilities of the State 
admit of it, and the ambition of her people should demand it.— r 
Buckeye Fanner, Jilaiisfield, Ohio. 



THE SOUTHWEST, 

MINNEAPOLIS — A PROSPECTIVE CITY. 

Minneapolis is situated in the northwestern part of Russell coun- 
ty, on a graceful bend of the Clinch River, upon a beautiful and 
elevated plateau, 150 feet above the river and 1, 700 feet above tide- 
water, in the midst of the blue grass limestone region of Southwest 
Virginia, noted for its healthiness, at the crossing of the Charleston, 
Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad, with the Clinch Valley Extension 
of the Norfolk and Western Railroad. It is well and regularly laid 
out, with wide avenues, streets, and alleys, covering an area of near- 
ly one thousand acres. As it is surrounded by immense beds of 
coking coal, iron and steel ores, it is destined to become very soon 
a large manufacturing centre, and rivaling the city for which it is 
named. Two iron furnaces and one large furniture manufactory 
are already in course of construction. A fine Hotel is soon to be 
built in a large walnut grove. Limestone for fluxing and building 
purposes in abundance everywhere. There are fine marble quarries 
in easy reach, and the neighboring woods are nothing but an access- 
able abundance of the finest varieties of hard woods, such as wal- 
nut, white oak, hickory, hemlock, ash, &c., and the softer kinds, as 
pine, poplar, &c. Clinch River is a clear mountain stream of 200 
feet in width, with a fall of 13 feet to the mile, afibrding ample 
water power for manufacturers. A handsome free bridge, built by 
the New South Mining and Improvement Company, crosses the 
river near the Union Depot to the adjoining county, Wise. The 
Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad, favorably known as 
the "3 C's," will make Minneapolis its headquarters, and an exten- 
sive area has been secured for railroad shops. Both the C. V. ex- 
tension of the X. & W. R. R., and the ''3 C's" R. R., put parties 
in easy rail communication with the Seaboard, North, South, North- 
west and Southwest. 

The city already has too comfortable Hotels. 



COST AND COMPORT. 



These two facts, now so evident, that none can or do contradict 
them — that the southern lands are infinitely cheaper than those of 
the West, and the climate preferable — it is unnecessary to discuss 



51 

whether they are more fertile and productive, whether they yield a 
greater variety of products; we are coufideut that they do, but this, 
as we have said, will not be takeu into consideration in this matter, 
as, aside from fertility, the South offers advantages in cheap lands 
and a mild climate that make it a far better home for the immi- 
grant than he can find anywhere in the West. 

In California and central portions of the West, land now com- 
mands from $25 to f 100 an acre, more than can be paid by most 
people, whereas the same lands in the South command from f 2 to 
$5. When to this is added the mild climate here as compared with 
the blizzard in the Northwest, which makes life so unpleasant, and 
which destroys annually millions of dollars in cattle, etc., it is not 
to be wondered at that the New York press should advise immi- 
grants that they Mill find better homes in the Southern States than 
in those portions of the West to which most of them are moving 
to-day. — Chicago Inter- Ocean. 



TRANSPORTATION. 



Miles of railroad in State in 1887, 2,920; miles of navigable riv- 
ers, ocean and bay shore, 1,500. 



COUNTRY AROUND NORFOLK. 



Norfolk county lies in the southeast corner of the State bordering- 
on Hampton Eoads and Chesapeake bay, with only one county, 
Princess Anne, between it and the sea. It is about 32 miles long, 
north and south, and 17 miles wide, containing nearly 550 square 
miles. It is bounded on the north by Chesapeake Bay and Hamp- 
ton Eoads, on the east by Princess Anne county ; on the south by 
North Carolina, and on the west by Nansemond county, Elizabeth 
Eiver and Hampton Eoads. The county is penetrated by several 
arms of the sea, viz: Tanner's Creek, Broad Creek, Mason's Creek, 
and Deep Creek, which with the three branches of the Elizabeth 
river, viz: the "Eastern Branch," ''Western Branch," and "South- 
ern Branch," constitute a very fine water system, and places eaeh 
farm in Norfolk county within three miles of water transportation. 
This insures to the Norfolk county farmer the cheajiest transporta- 
tion in the world. The county is also well supplied with other 
transportation facilities. Two canals intersect the county and con- 
nect the waters of the Chesapeake with those of the North Carolina 
system of sounds and rivers, thus making all of Eastern North Car- 
olina tributary to Norfolk harbor by water. Nine railroads termi- 
nate in Norfolk Harbor, cutting Norfolk county in all directions. 
Nine beautiful shell turnpikes also traverse Norfolk county from 
all points of the compass, centering on our fine harbor. Therefore, 
we may safely claim that the Norfolk county farmer is better sup- 
plied with transportation facilities than the farmers of any other 
county in the United States. All the streams of water in Norfolk 
county are effected by the tide, the tide ebbing and flowing to the 
very heads of all the streams. This constant ebbing and flowing of 
the tide carries the salt pure waters of the ocean twice each twen- 
ty-four hours up all these streams, and makes it quite impossible 
for any water to become stagnant or impure. These arms of the 
sea also afford the finest natural drainage known. The excess of 
rainfall running into them without ever doing a dollar's worth of 
damage by flood or freshet. The soil of Norfolk county is of two 
general kinds, viz : a clay loam and a sandy loam, all underlaid 
with a good substantial clay subsoil. The siuface of the county is 
from eight to twenty feet above the sea level. The mean annual 
rainfall is about fifty-two inches, well distributed throughout the 
year, of which amount about thirty-five inches falls during the 
growing season, say from 1st of March to 1st of October. The ther- 



63 

mometer ranges in summer from 70° to 90°, seldom going to 95° 
above zero ; while in winter it never goes below 20° above zero more 
than on three days, all told, during the winter. This cutting off of 
the two extremes of heat and cold is caused by the fact that the 
county is practically surrounded on three sides by salt water, and 
the temperature of the air being controlled by the temperature of 
the water, never goes to either extreme, as the water temperature 
is quite uniform throughout the year. The "gulf stream," that 
great wonder of the Atlantic, which rolls only a few miles off our 
coast, on its way to Europe, has a very pleasing effect on oui* cli- 
mate, especially on our winter climate. Norfolk county annually 
produces from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 worth of market garden 
vegetables. This only includes that shipped away, and does not in- 
clude the vast amount, in addition, that is consumed at home. The 
aggregate of annual crops, such as hay, oats, corn, etc., is large and 
constantly increasing. Notwithstanding this, the county is a large 
buyer of Western corn, oats, hay, butter, lard, beef, pork, etc., 
-w^hile within our county limits we have fully 100,000 acres of most 
excellent grass, grain and stock land lying idle and entirely unim- 
proved. This condition of things naturally invites immigration. 
The fish and oyster interests of the county are immense. Large 
manufacturing establishments are located in this county. Cotton, 
lumber, brick, fertilizers, and ship-building, giving employment 
(in connection with trucking) to fully 30,000 laborers steadily, and 
at times far exceeding this number. There are seventy public 
schools in the county proper, not including those in the cities within 
county limits. There are eighty churches, not counting city churches. 
The white and colored children go to separate schools. The white 
and colored people go to separate churches, and each and all are 
perfectly satisfied with this arrangement. Within the limits of the 
county may be found more than 100,000 people, of which about one- 
half are in the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth. The county con- 
tains several points of interest, such as the Government Navy Yard, 
the Naval Hospital, Old Fort Norfolk, Old St. Paul's Church and 
•Churchyard, Ocean View Summer Resort, and last, but not least, 
the famous Dismal Swamp. By the way, this Swamp is on a hill- 
side twenty-seven feet above the level of the sea in this harbor. If 
' a wide and deep ditch were dug from tidewater to the lake in the 
centre of this Swamp, the water thereof would run out to the sea 
like a mill-race, and the Swamp would be a thing of the past. This 
Swamp was surveyed by Washington at an early day, and the fam- 
ous Dismal Swamj) Canal was surveyed and located by him, and he 
owned large tracts in the Swamp, There are no waters in the 
"United States so pure as those of this Swamp. Government vessels 
leaving this harbor for long ocean voyages, secure this juniper water 
from the Swamp on account of both its medicinal and keeping qual- 
ities. Invalids, who, with rod and gun, go into this Swamp and spend 
a few weeks or months sleeping on juniper boughs, drinking j uniper 
water, and inhaling the juniper impregnated air, rapidly improve 
in health, appetite and general robustness. Norfolk county has 
special advantages on sea and land. It is the centre of the grand- 
est market-garden business in the United States. It has the finest 



54 

seaport in the Soufh, and stands next to the head, if not at the head^ 
in fish and oyster interests. Swift steamers constantly ply between 
the prodiicers of Norfolk connty and the best markets in America, 
viz : Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and 
"Washington, while two great lines of railway help distribute this 
immense amount throughout the West and Northwest. It costs our 
farmers no more to ship a barrel of kale, cabbage or potatoes to 
New York, 350 miles away by steamer, than it does to ship the 
same 50 miles by rail into the interior. In other words, Norfolk 
county, measured by freight rates and shipping facilities, is not 
more than 50 miles from New York, Philadelphia and Boston. The 
soil of Norfolk county is really a good one, and has not been so 
thoroughly robbed of its fertility as some x)arts of the South has. 
There is no loss of soil fertility by washing, such as there is in 
rougher and more rolling sections. While our soil is quickly drained 
and quickly worked after heavy rains, tlie drainage is such as to 
prevent the washing away of the finer soil. Fertilizers and manure 
applied to the land are neither washed away nor leached away, as the 
subsoil is substantial, and the land is not only very grateful for ma- 
nure applied to it, but holds it and shows it a long time thereafter. 
This county and portion of the State offers special advantages to 
the men of limited to fair means, who come here to engage in the 
poultry or small fruit business, or who will raise early lambs for 
Northern markets, or make milk, butter, beef, pork, hay, oats and 
corn, as in all these things Norfolk county is not growing enough 
for home consumption. For example, milk retails at 10 cents per 
quart, butter 35 to 50 cents per pound, and hay $16 to $20 per ton. 
Good laud is lyiug here for sale cheap, upon which all these things 
may be successfully and profitably grown. The climate is all that 
can be desired both in summer and winter. This section is con- 
stantly fanned by the sea breezes, making it as healthful as the 
islands of the sea. The State now invites peoj)le to come in and 
help settle the waste places. The county of Norfolk invites new- 
comers, and the j)eople, as individuals as well as coUeetively, extend 
the invitation to all so disposed to do so, to come and help make 
Norfolk county what 'twas doubtless intended to be — the great gar- 
den spot on the Atlantic sea-coast. 

NORFOLK STATISTICS. 



Articles. 



Sawed Lumber 

Logs 

Shingles 

Staves 

Sawed Lathes . 
Eailroad Ties . 



Total estimated value. 



Eeceipts. 



120,650,296 feet. 

98,672,324 '' 

24,998,213 M 

6,038.497 M 

1,966,807 M 

129,307 M 



Value. 



11,450,000 00 

790,000 00 

140,000 00 

151,000 00 

3,000 00 

52,000 00 



$2,586, 000. 00 



55 



COUNTRY AND PAEM PRODUCTS. 



Peanuts 


287,918 bags, 4 bus. each 

26,087 packages 

75,027 barrels 


-f 720,000 
234,000 
150 000 


EjTpS 


Potatoes . - - 


Fruits and Vegetables. 


120, 035 packages 


236 842 


Hides — green 


19,921 " 


70,000 






Total 




$1,410,482 



AGRICULTURAL. 

Another cause of Norfolk's prosperity must be touched upon, and 
the agricultural interest is not to be overlooked. Eight beautiful 
shell turnpikes radiate from the city, like spokes from the hub, 
penetrating the truck fields in every direction. On these roads and 
on the salt arms of the sea are these truck farms; and these are con- 
sidered larger and more i^rolific, often making five different crops 
during the j^ear on the same land. 

The climate is the best, the year round — being equally removed 
from the cold of Canada and the heat of Mexico — and is the most 
important seaport south of ISTew York, The soil seems particularly 
adapted for these farms. This section, embracing a circle whose 
diameter may be twenty miles, may be truthfully said to be the 
great trucking centre of the United States. ]S^o other section can 
show the amount of truck nor the net cash returns from the same 
that this circle can show. The trucking business for the year 1887, 
for Norfolk county, and the value of fruit shipped, aggregated 
$2,287,042.81. The aggregate value of fruit and vegetables shipped 
from a single county (ISTorfolk) exceeded the value of the entire 
iron industry of the entire State for that year. The amount of 
truck handled in this city during a single year, will reach $4,000,000 
to $5,000,000, and the business is yet in its infancy. 

The agricultural interests of Norfolk and Southeast Virginia are 
carefully looked after by the GoDiucopia — an eight-page monthly 
agricultural journal, published by Mr. A. Jeflfers — now in its third 
year. As the land and water around jSTorfolk is truly ^'a horn of 
plenty," the journal is appropriately named. 

OUTLINES ONLY. 



We have thus only briefly outlined some of the vast facilities the 
city possesses, which most eminently entitles her to rank as one of 
the grandest trade centres in our country, and should be powerful 
inducements to all parties looking for a most eligible point to erect 
factories or' other business enterprises. The merchants are a live 
set of men, trusting and energetic, and ready to grasp hands with 
all comers who cast their lot with them — bent on business. — Marie 
Wright, in Sunny South. 



56 

OUR TRUCKING INTERESTS. 

IFrom Norfolk Journal <f Commerce.'\ 

Norfolk may be said to be in the centre of the greatest market 
garden in the United States. These great truck farms extend over 
an area of about twenty- five miles in diameter, covering IS^orfolk 
•county and a part of Princess Anne and Nansemond, and no other 
section of like proportions can show the amount of truck produced 
by this or the amount of cash received for the produce. It is a very 
difficult matter to estimate the money value of this business to Nor- 
folk, as no complete record is kept of the receipts and shipments, 
and authorities on the subject differ somewhat; however, those who 
are in the best position to judge estimate that the trucking business 
of Norfolk amounts to at least $4,500,000 per annum. It is claimed 
that the truck and fruit business of Norfolk county alone amounts 
to $2,500,000 per annum, or more than the entire iron industry of the 
State. The heart of the trucking season lasts about six weeks, cov- 
ering June and a part of May and July. During this period our 
large transportation lines put on extra steamships, and a daily line 
is established between Norfolk and all of the Northern markets. 
From the best information obtainable, we would estimate that the 
movement of truck during these six weeks average between 250,000 
and 300,000 packages per week, or about 1,700,000 packages during 
the season. To handle this immense volume of produce, both in 
gathering and preparing for market and in its transportation, a 
very large number of people are required, a large proportion of 
whom have to be drawn from other parts of the country, jjrinci- 
pally North Carolina, though many come from long distances during 
the season. 

The Irish potato crop probably gives the largest yield, and many 
of our enterprising truckers have secured large fortunes from their 
potato crops. 

During the past season, which was a good one, it is stated on good 
authority that several of our farmers cleared from $10,000 to $30, 000 
on potatoes. The immensity of this traffic may in a measure be 
realized in the fact that as many as 20,000 barrels of potatoes have 
been shipped from Norfolk by the Old Dominion Line to New York 
in one day, besides the large amount which was carried to other 
markets by other lines. 

Norfolk, Va., February 27, 1889. 

To Major J. Hoge Tyler, Rector of the Board of Visitors Virginia 
Agricultural and Mechanical College, Blacksburg, Va.: 

Dear 8ir — The undersigned, a committee selected by a mass-meet- 
ing of prominent farmers and truckers, assembled in Norfolk, Va., 
on the 21st day of February, 1889, for the purpose of discussing the 
matter of securing a sub-experimental station for Eastern Virginia, 
were instructed and authorized to communicate with you respect- 
ing the same. 



57 

We, therefore, beg leave to submit for your consideration the fol- 
lowing facts: 

1st. We desire most respectfully to call your attention to the 
magnitude of the agricultural interests, lying, for example, within 
a ten-mile limit of this city. If a circle — the radius of which is 
ten miles — be drawn around this city, it would include fully tivo 
fhousaud farmers and truckers engaged wholly or partially in grow- 
ing maaket-garden vegetables for the great Northern and Western 
markets. 

Within this circle more than foriy thousand acres are entirely de- 
voted to truck crops, such as kale, cabbage, spinach, peas, beans, rad- 
ish, lettuce, turnips, beets, onions, melons, potatoes, tomatoes, %gg 
plants, celery, asparagus, strawberries, and numerous other similar 
crops, while many thousands of acres within this circle are devoted 
to the growing of crops of corn, rye, oats, hay, peanuts and sweet 
potatoes, and other staple annual crops. 

The aggregate sales of the truck crops grown in this circle 
amount to from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 annually, exclusive of the 
hay, oat and corn crop, «&c. , and, in fact, often exceed the latter fig- 
ure, and are constantly increasing. The value of these trucking lands 
exceeds the sum of eight millions of dollars. The value of fertilizers 
used annually is placed at 07ie million dollars. 

The value of seeds, implements and farm stock, horses and mules 
used in this work is fully two million dollars. 

In the prosecution of this great work fully ten thousand laborers 
are given steady employment throughout the year, while during 
the very busy season of April, May and June the number of labor- 
ers runs up to tJiirty thousand. 

When we go outside of this circle above mentioned, whose radius 
is only ten miles, we find all of Eastern or Tidewater Virginia roll- 
ing up a grand aggregate of crops handled principally in this har- 
bor for shii)ment to the world's best and greatest markets. This 
gives but a faint conception of the magnitude of the agricultural 
interests that would be favorably effected by the location of a sub- 
experimental station in our midst. In short, we may safely claim 
that an experimental station located here would favorably effect 
greater agricultural mterests than any other similar station in the Union. 

2d. In the prosecution of this immense work, it is but fair to sup- 
pose that a proportionate loss is sustained from the ravages of in- 
sects, worms and other pests. If the same percentage of loss is 
sustained here as in all other sections — which is but fair to suppose 
— then the losses from these sources aggregate a sum many times 
greater than the entire appropriation to the State for experimental 
work. 

3d. We further desire to call your attention to the advantage of 
having the station in this vicinity by reason of its accessibility. Eight 
excellent shell turnpikes, two canals, eight railroads (others pro- 
jected), and thirty or more daily lines of steamers concentrate in 
this harbor, not including the many hundreds of sailing vessels and 
ocean steamers plying in these waters. Therefore, an experimental 
station, located at or near this point, would be more accessible by 



58 

rail, by mail, by wire, by telephone, by steamei', by canal by liigli- 
ways and byways than any other point in Eastern Virginia. There- 
fore we resi^ectfnlly ask that the qnestion of the magnitude of our 
agricultural interests and accessibility of our location be given due 
weight in the selection of a suitable point for the location of the 
proi)Osed sub-station. 

4th. To one other point we desire to call your attention, viz : 
This section being not only the largest trucking centre in the Union, 
but being centrally located in the great trucking belt of the Atlan- 
tic seaboard, experiments here would be of great use and benefit, 
not only to our immense trucking and agricultural interests at home 
directly, but of great benefit to the whole trucking belt from Maine 
to Florida, indirectly. Experiments would be watched and the re- 
sults carefully read and studied by a greater number of earnest, 
practical, thorough workers than the experiments made by any 
other station or sub-station in the Union. 

Respectfully submitted, 
John Mullins, Chairman, Parke L. Poindexter, 

A. Jeffers, Secretary, S. B. Carney, 

A. J. Newton, J. L. Babcock, 

John McWhorter, G. D. DeBaun, 

J. A. WheTkSEL, C. Miller, 

•S. M. Shumadine, James Twiford, 

James Wagner, Walter Jordan, 

Wm. F. Wise, L. Jackson, 

E. S. JoYNES, A. E. Herbert, 

Committee. 



VIRGINIA WEATHER AND RAINFALL. 

Note the following Meteorological Report for the months of December, 1887, and Jan- 
uary and February, 1888, mid compare it with yonr climate, and dratv your own 
conclusions. 

The subjoined tables give the Sunrise, Minimum and Maximum readings of 
tlie Thermometer, and the course of the wind at sunrise. The readings of the 
Thermometer were taken in an elevated portion of the City of Richmond, 
Vs., the position of the instrument being free from any influence of refractory 
heat. They are self-registering, of the best French manufacture, are carefully 
noted each day, and the figures are believed to be absolutely correct. 

REPORT FOR DECEMBER, 1887. 



CONDITION 



Clear I 19 

Cloudv i 25 

Partly cloudv 34 

Clear— foggy (1).. 36 

Cloudv • 44 

Clear..^. I 29 

Clear— frost ( 27 

Cloudy 41 

Clear (2) 33 

Cloudy (3) 40 

Cloudy 50 

Cloudy , 45 

Clear 31 

Partly cloudy (4) 30 

Cloudy (5) ., 41 

Clear I 30 

Cloudy (6) I 31 

Partly cloudy j 30 

Clear 29 

Cloudy (7); i 34 

Cloudy ...., i 36 

Partly cloudy... I 30 

Partly cloudy 23 

Cloudy (8) , 35 

Cloudy i 29 

Cloudy 32 

CloudV (9) 21 

Cloudy (10) 36 

Clear I 15 

Clear ' 11 

Cloudy ' 22 



Average temperature j 31.5 

Mean temperature 42.0 1 



m 
I— I 
M 
12; 
P 
m 



19 
25 
34 
36 
44 
29 
27 
41 
33 
55 
50 
45 
31 
30 
41 
30 
33 
30 
29 
34 
36 
30 
23 
35 
29 
32 
21 
39 
15 
11 
22 



32.1 



42 

48 
64 
67 
75 
60 
61 
48 
60 
65 
58 
59 
57 
49 
51 
55 
43 
49 
54 
48 
60 
52 
48 
43 
43 
40 
44 
56 
45 
40 
45 



52.5 



N. W. 
N. E- 
S.-E.- 
S. E. 
W. 
IS". 

w. 

S. E. 

S. E. 
S. E. 
N. E. 

¥. E. 
E. 
W. 
E. 

I^. W. 
W. 
S. E. 
W. 

]S^. w. 
S. E. 
E. 

N. E. 
S. E. 
K W. 
E. 
N. 
N. 
S. E. 



60 



KEPOBT FOR JANUARY, 1888. 



1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
■27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 
31. 



CONDITION. 



Cloudy C1-) ■. 29 



Cloudy 

Clear 

Partly cloudy 

Cloudy 

Cloudy (2) 

Partly cloudy .. .- 
Partly cloudy (3). 

Cloudy (4) 

Cloudy ... 

Clear 

Clear (5) 

Cloudy (6) 

Cloudy (7) 

Cloudy 

Cloudy (8). 

Cloudy (9) 

Cloudy 

Clear 

Clear 

Cloudy 

Cloudy 

Cloudy 

Clear 

Clear (10) 

Partly cloudy 

Cloudy 

Clear 

Clear 

Partly cloudy .... 
Cloudy 



Mean temperature 

Average temperature 32.4 



36 

25 

29 

38 

35 

50 

56 

39 

32 

27 

14 

25 

28 

37 

25 

21 

25 

14 

20 

26 

13 

19 

21 

17 

27 

20 

11 

10 

21 

30 



m 

M 

P 
m 



26.5 



36 

37 

25 

29 

45 

35 

55 

56 

39 

32 

27 

14 

25 

28 

37 

25 

21 

29 

14 

22 

26 

15 

21 

21 

17 

27 

21 

11 

10 

21 

30 



58 

45 

54 

60 

52 

55 

76 

75 

45 

58 

51 

41 

38 

54 

58 

47 

35 

44 

44 

45 

41 

26 

33 

52 

34 

42 

43 

40 

44 

40 

56 



E. 
E. 

S. E. 

s. w. 
s. w. 

S. E. 

S. 

s. w 

E. 

W. 

W. 

N. 

E. 

N. W. 

S. E. 

N. 

E. 

S. W. 

N: 

S. 

N. W. 

N. 

S. E. 

N. W. 

N. w. 
s. w. 

N. E. 
N. 

S. E. 
N. W. 
E. 



27.5 



38.3 



61 



REPORT FOR FEBRUARY, 1888. 



CONDITION. 



1. Cloudy 

2. Cloudy 

3. Partly cloudy (1) 

4. Cloudy (2) 

5. Cloudy (3) 

6. Cloudy (4) 

7. Cloudy (5) 

8. Cloudy (6) 

9 Cloudy (7) 

10. Cloudy (8) 

11. Cloudy (9) 

12. Cloudy (10) 

Cloudy 

Clear 

Partly clear 

Clear 

Clear 

Cloudy 

19. Clear 

20. Cloudy (11)... 

21. Cloudy 

22. Clear 

23. Cloudy 

24. Cloudy (12) 

25. Cloudy 

26. Partly cloudy 

27. Cloudy (13) 

28. Clear.! 

29. Clear — rain at night 

Ayerage 

Mean temperature 44. 7 



30 
26 
24 
35 
42 
38 
35 
32 
35 
20 
17 
28 
29 
26 
36 
15 
28 
34 
32 
43 
50 
33 
37 
34 
40 
38 
32 
12 
21 



34.6 



02 
M 

m 



30 
28 
24 
35 
42 
38 
35 
34 
35 
20 
21 
28 
29 
26 
36 
15 
35 
34 
32 
48 
50 
33 
37 
34 
48 
38 
32 
12 
25 



35.7 



54 
50 
51 
58 
61 
47 
56 
54 
43 
32 
34 
40 
51 
64 
52 
45 
67 
68 
62 
68 
60 
67 
68 
55 
67 
60 
47 
41 
55 



N. E. 
S. E. 
N. E. 
E. 

S. E. 
E. 

S. E. 
S. E. 
S. E. 
■N. 
E. 

S. E. 
N. E. 
S. E. 
N. E. 
N. 

S. W. 
S. E. 
W. 
E. 
S. 

w. 

E. 

N. E. 

S. 

w. 

N. w. 

N". 

s. w. 



54.8 



62 



METEOROLOGICAL. 



The table below gives the average minimum and maximum read- 
ings of the thermometer during the past year : 

Mean 
Minimum. Maximum. Temxierature, 

January 27 48.3 37.6 

Pebruary 35.3 62.8 49 

March 30.6 52.08 43.2 

April 41.7 67 54.3 

May 59 86.4 72.7 

June 61 93.8 71.7 

July 71.3 82.4 82.3 

August 66.9 86.8 76.8 

September 56.6 82.5 69.6 

October 49.7 71.3 60.5 

IS'ovember 36.8 61.7 49.7 

December 31.5 52.5 42 

Mean temperature for the year 59.4 



MEAN TEMPERATURE. 



AVe append a table of mean temperature for the past ten years : 



1878 50 

1879- 48 

1880 57.8 

1881 61 

1882 58.8 



1883 59 

1884 54.9 

1885 57.9 

1886 56.4 

1887.... 59.4 



Average for ten years 56.3 



63 



RAINFALL FOR THE YEAR. 



Inches. 

January. 1.88 

February 4.40 

March..... 2.52 

April 2.71 

May 3.56 

June 4.45 

July 6.58 

August 8.27 

September 1.19 

October 4,94 

K"ovember 2.49 

December 4.04 



Total for the year 47.03 

BeloAA" we give a table of rainfall for the past seventeen years 

Inches. 

Eainfall for 1871 45.38 

Eainlall for 1872 34.26 

Eainfall for 1873 53.32 

Eainfall for 1874 33.51 

Eainfall for 1875 42.07 

Eainfall for 1876 27.65 

Eainfall for 1877 29.00 

Eainfall for 1878 35.24 

Eainfall for 1879 33.81 

Eainfall for 1880 38.15 

Eainfall for 1881 38.64 

Eaintall for 1382 36.82 

Eainfall for 1883 34.57 

Eainfall for 1884 31.09 

Eainfall for 1885 34.69 

EaintVill for 1886 53.64 

Eainfall for 1887 47.03 

Average for seventeen years 37.82 



NATURAL CURIOSITIES. 



Page county is traversed in its entire length by the Shenandoah 
Yalley Eailroad, which runs through the centre and affords trans- 
portation convenient to all parts of the county. Since the construc- 
tion of this road the development of the county has been very 
rapid. 

At Luray is a beautiful Cave, with an endless succession of exten- 
sive chambers, ornamented with numerous stalactites and stalag- 
mites. This is numbered among the noted caverns of the world, 
and attracts from all parts of the country thousands of visitors cu- 
rious to examine its wonders, which surpass those of any other 
known to man. It is now fitted up with electric lights and all con- 
veniences for exhibition. 

Page Valley is here several miles wide, and the surface is diver- 
sified by an endless series of knolls, ridges, and deeply imbedded 
streams. ^^The rocks throughout the whole of this region have 
been much disi3laced, having been flexed into great folds, the direc- 
tion of which coincides with that of the Appalachian mountain- 
chain. In fact, these folds are a remnant of the results of that series 
of movements in which the whole system primarily originated." 
Hidden in the woods near the top of one of these hills, about a mile 
east of Luray, an old cave has always been known to exist. Con- 
nected with it are traditions which reach back to the Euffners, the 
earliest settlers of the Valley, and it has taken their name. 

In 1878, Mr. B. P. Stebbins, of Luray, conceived the project of a 
more complete exploration of it, with a view of making it an object 
of interest to tourists, and he invited the co-operation of the brothers 
Andrew and William E. Campbell. These gentlemen declined to 
go into the old cave, but were ready to engage in a search for a new 
one, and went ranging over the hills, but for four weeks succeeded 
only in exciting the astonishment and ridicule of the neighborhood, 
when, returning one August day from a long tramp, the men ap- 
proached home over the hill where Euffner's cave was. In the 
cleared land on the northern slope, a couple of hundred yards or so 
from the mouth of the old cave, was a sink-hole choked with weeds, 
bushes, and accumulation of sticks and loose stones, through which 
they fancied they felt cool currents of air sifting. 

Laboriously tumbling out the bowlders, Mr. Andrew Campbell 
was finally able to descend by the aid of a rope into a black abyss^ 
which was not bottomless, however, for he soon let go of the rope^ 



65 

and left his comiianions on the snrface to their conjectures. Becom- 
ing uneasy at his long absence, his brother also descended, and to- 
gether the men walked in a lofty passage for several rods, where 
their progress was stopped by water. Eeturning, they told Mr. 
Stebbins what they had seen, and all agreed upon a policy of silence 
until the property could be bought. Then they went home and 
dreamed of '' millions in it." Such was the discovery of the Luray 
Cave. 

Dreams are but a '' baseless fabric." The property was bought 
of a bankrupted owner at a sheriff's sale, but, upon an intimation 
of its underground value, one of the relatives of the (niginal owner 
gued for recovery upon an irregularity in the sale, and after two 
years of tedious litigation he won his suit. Previously a company 
of Northern men, of whom Mr. E. E. Corson, of Philadelphia, was 
president, had formed a joint-stock company to purchase the prop- 
erty, and it passed into their hands in the spring of 1881. But 
during the two years the original cost had swelled, while the early 
visions had dwindled, until they met at $40,000. This is the his- 
tory of the "wonder." 

Yon will find an even temi^erature of about 56° Fahrenheit 
throughout the Cave all the year round. There is plenty of room 
to walk about everywhere without squeezing against the walls or 
striking your head, and board or cement walks and stairways are 
provided throughout all the area open to visitors. It is advisable^ 
nevertheless, for ladies to wear rubbers, since there is enough 
dampness underfoot in some places to penetrate thin-soled boots. 

^ ^ ^ >i; ^ ^ ;|< ^ >;; ^^ 

The darkness was only faintly illuminated by our few candles, 
and I was about to remonstrate, when the click and flash of an elec- 
tric arc flooded the whole place with light. Our few candles were 
intended merely for peering into dark corners and helping our foot- 
steps. The general illumination is accomplished by dozens of elec- 
tric lamps hung in all parts of the wide-winding vaults and pas- 
sages. As soon as I perceived this I gave my sconce to Baily, for 
it was a nuisance to carry it. 

The first chamber is about as big as a barn, and from it we pro- 
ceed upon a causeway of cement for a short distance past the Vege- 
table Garden, the Bear Scratches, the Theatre, the Gallery ; over 
Muddy Lake on a planking-bridge, which is itself spanned by a 
stone arch ; through the Fish Market and across the Elfin Eamble — 
a plateau in which the roof is generally within reach of the hand ; 
and so come to Pluto's Chasm. 

From the chasm, where there is a Bridge of Sighs, a Balcony, a 
Spectre, and various other names and habitations, we re-cross the 
Elfin Eamble, pass successively Titania's Veil, Diana's Bath — the 
lady was not fastidious — and come to a very satisfactory Saracen 
Tent. 

Then we ascend stairways past the Empress Column — easily em- 
press of all, I think— and proceed under -the Fallen Column to the 
spacious nave of the Cathedral. We pause to note its lofty groined 
roof and Gothic pillars — surely in some like scene to this the first 



66 

architect of that style met his inspiration ! — its large Michael An- 
gelesque Augel's Wiug and its Organ. Then we sit down and turn 
to the prostrate stalactite. It is as big as a steamboat boiler, and 
bears an enormous pagoda of stalagmitic rock which has grown 
there since it fell. It thus forms a good text for a conversation as 
to the age and geology of the Cave, the materials for which we found 
by reading an excellent pamphlet on the subject published by the 
Smithsonian, and which may be procured at Luray. The gist of it 
is that the Cave is probably considerably later in its origin than the 
close of the carboniferous period, and not more ancient than the 
Mammoth or Wyandotte Caves. The indications are that in past 
ages the work went on with great rapidity, but that latterly change 
has been very slow, and at present has almost ceased. 

Leaving the Cathedral — a narrow, jagged passage — we get an out- 
look down into a sort of devil's pantheon, full of grotesque shapes 
and colossal caricatures of things, animate and inanimate, casting 
odd and suggestive shadows in whose gloom fancy may work mar- 
v^els of unworldly effect, and then are led by a stairway to a well- 
curtained room called the Bridal Chamber. 

The back door of the Bridal Chamber admits to Giant's Hall, just 
bej^oud which is the Ball Room — both large and lofty apartments, 
constituting a separate portion of the Cave, parallel with the length 
of Pluto's Chasm. In the Ball Room we have worked back oppo- 
site the enti'ance, having followed a course roughly outlined by the 
letter IT. 

I have thus run hastily over the greater part of the ground open 
to the public, in order to give an idea of its extent and nomencla- 
ture. To describe each figure and room separately is impossible. 
The best I can do is to try to give some general notion of the char- 
acter of the ornamental formations of crystalline rock which render 
this Cave without a peer in the world, perhaps, for the startling- 
beauty and astonishing variety of its interior. 

Though the simple stalactite will be circular and gradually de- 
creasing in size, conically from its attachment to its acuminate 
point, yet innumerable variations may occur, as the dripping or 
streaming water that feeds it is diverted from its direct and mode- 
rate flowing. 

Chief of all the varieties, and the one that in lavish profusion is 
to be seen everywhere in these caverns, is that which, by growing 
on the edges only, produces not a round, icicle form, but a wide and 
thin laminated or sheet form, which is better described by its sem- 
blance to heavy cloth hanging in pointed folds and wrinkles, as a 
table-cover arranges itself about a corner. Where ledges and table- 
like surfaces — of which there are many instances in the Cave — are 
most abundant, there the '' drapery " is sure to form. In the Mar- 
ket it crowds the terraced walls in short, thick, whitish fringes, like 
so many fishes hung up by the gills. The Saracen Tent is formed 
by these great, flat, sharply tipped and gently curving plates, rich 
brown in color, depending from a square canopy so that they reach 
the floor, save on one side, where you may enter as through conve- 
niently parted canvas. The Bridal Chamber is curtained from cu- 



67 

rioiis gaze by their massive and carelessly graceful folds; the walls 
of Pluto's Ohasm are hung with them as in a mighty wardrobe; 
Diana's Bath is concealed under their protecting shelter ; Titania's 
Veil is only a more delicate texture of the same; Cinderella Leaving 
the Ball becomes lost in their folds as she glides, lace- white, to her 
disrobing ; and a Sleeping Beauty has wrapped these abundant 
blankets about her motionless form; while the Ball Room carries 
you back to the days of the Round Table, for the spacious walls are 
hung as with tapestries. 

Do not disbelieve me when I speak of wealth of color. The range 
is small, to be sure, but the variation of tint shade is infinite and 
never out of tune. Where the growth is steady aud rapid, the rock 
is crystal white, as at the vai-ious Frozen Cascades, the Geyser, aud 
manj^ instances of isolated stalactites. But when the steady growth 
ceases, the carbonic moisture of the air eats away the glistening 
particles of lime, and leaves behind a discolored residuum of clay- 
dust and iron oxides. Thus it happens that, from the niveous pu- 
rity or pearly surface of the new work there runs a gentle gradation 
through every stage of yellowish aud whitish brown to the dun of 
the long abandoned and dirty stalagmite, the leaden gray of the 
native limestone, or the inky shadow that lurks behind. It is thus 
that the draped and folded tapestries in the Ball Room are varie- 
gated and resplendent in a thousand hues. Moreover, various tints 
are often combined in the same object, particularly in the way of 
stripes more or less horizontal, due to the varying amount of iron, 
silica, or other foreign matter which the lime-water contained from 
time to time. 

The best example of this, and, indeed, of the "drapery formation " 
generally, is to be found in the Wet Blanket. A large number of 
the pillars are probably hollow, and are formed by the crowding 
together of many drapery stalactites, which finally have coalesced, 
leaving the pillar deeply fiuted, or seamed up and down, along their 
connected edges. When you find one of these massive, ribbed and 
rugged pillars vanishing above in a host of curved stalactites, their 
thin and wavy selvages guiding the eye to tips which seem to sway 
and quiver overhead, it is hard not to believe it is an aged willow 
turned to stone. Indeed, the whole scene in many parts is strongly 
suggestive of a forest with tangled undergrowths, thrifty saplings, 
fallen logs, and crowding ranks of sturdy trees. 

In more than the general effect, indeed, the ornamental incrusta- 
tions of this cave mimic the vegetable growths outside. Many of 
the stalactites are embroidered with small excrescences and compli- 
cated clusters of protruding and twisted points and flakes, much like 
leaves, buds and twigs. To these have been given the scientific 
name of helictites,and the grottoes of Stebbins Avenue exhibit them 
to the best advantage. 

Then there are the botryoids — round and oblong tubers covered 
with twigs and tubercles, such as that cauliflower-like group which 
gives the name to the Vegetable Garden; these grow where there is 
a continual spattering going on. A process of decomposition, dis- 
solving out a part and leaving a spongy frame- work behind, fur- 



68 

nislies to many other districts quantities of plaut-semblauces that 
you may name and name in endless distinction. Then, in the many 
little hollow basins or "baths," and in the bottom of the gorges 
where still water lies, so crystal clear you cannot find its surface nor 
estimate its depth — where the blue electric flame opens a wonderful 
new cave beneath your feet in the unrecognized reflection of the 
fretted roof, and where no ice is needed to cool nor cordial compe- 
tent to benefit the taste of the beverage — there the hard gray rock 
blossoms forth into multitudes of exquisite flowers of crystallization, 
with petals rosy, fawn-colored and white, that apparently a breath 
would wilt. 

But I must cease this attempt at even a suggestion of the j)0ssible 
variety of size and shape, mimicry and quaint device to be met with 
in this cavern. 

That rigid stone should lend itself to so many delicate, graceful, 
airy shapes and attitudes, rivaling the flexible flower of the organic 
world, tills the mind with astonishment and bewilders the eye ; and 
when you have struck the thin and pendent curtain, or the '^pij)es" 
of the Organ in the Cathedral, and have found that each has a rich, 
deep, musical resonance of varying pitch, then your admiration is 
comiDlete. 

The cave has not yet much human interest ; but we must not for- 
get to follow down a long stairway into a deep and narrow gulch, 
where the dampness and gloom is little relieved by anything to 
please the eye. At the foot of the staircase the guide drops his 
lantern close to a treuch-like depression, through which a filmy 
brooklet trickles noiselessly. No need of interrogation— there is 
no mistaking that slender, slightly curved, brown object, lying- 
there half out, half embedded in the rock, with its rounded and bi- 
loped head, nor its grooved and broken companions. They are not 
fallen, small stalactites ; they are human bones — fit for the 
mausoleum of emperors. What a vast vault to become the sarco- 
phagus of one poor frame ! 

EocKBRiDGE CouNTY, named from its most striking feature, the 
world-renowned "Natural Bridge." This county is 31 miles iu 
length and an average width of 22 miles, and contains 397,622 
acres, valued at 13,284,902. Population, 20,000. 

Tourists find in this county some of the grandest scenery of the 
continent. Besides the Natural Bridge, above mentioned, "Bal- 
cony Falls," where James river cuts its way through the Blue 
Eidge, and ' ' Goshen Pass, ' ' on North river, have long been cele- 
brated, and now that this region has become accessible, are daily 
drawing greater crowds. 

The Natural Bridge, in this county, is reckoned as one of the 
world's wonders. 

The first imjjression is the lasting one — its majesty! It stands 
alone. There is nothing to distract the eye. The first point of 
view is at sufficient distance, and somewhat above the level of the 
foundation. Solid walls of rock and curtaining foliage guide the 
vision straight to the narrows where the arch springs colossal from. 



69 

side to side. Whatever questions may arise as to its origin, there 
is nothing hidden or mysterious in its appearance. The material of 
the walls is the material of the bridge. Its piers are braced against 
the mountains, its enormous keystone bears down with a weight 
which holds all the rest immovable, yet which does not looh pon- 
derous. Every part is exposed to our view at a glance, and all 
parts are so proportionate to one another and to their surround- 
ings — so simple and comparable to the human structures with 
which we are familiar, that the effect upon our minds is not to stun, 
but to satisfy comijletely our sense of the beauty of curve and up- 
right grace and strength drawn upon a magnificent scale. ' ^ It is 
so massive," exclaims Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, ''so high, so 
shapely, the abutments rise so solidly and spring into the noble 
arch with such grace and power ! . . . Through the arch is the 
blue sky ; over the top is the blue sky ; great trees try in yain to 
reach uj) to it, bushes and vines drape and soften its outlines, but 
do not conceal its rugged massiveness. It is still in the ravine, 
save for the gentle flow of the stream, and the bridge seems as much 
an emblem of silence and eternity as the Pyramids." 

Descending further the path cut along the base of the cliffs, which, 
as one writer has said, arise ''with the decision of the wall, but 
without its uniformity — massive, broken, beautiful, and supplying 
a most admirable foreground. ' ' We advance under the arch, and 
gaze straight up at its under side, which is from sixty to ninety feet 
wide. It is almost two hundred feet above the stony bed at Cedar 
creek, but Baily doesn't remember this, and fancies he can hurl a 
pebble to the ceiling. Vain youth! Even gentle Prue laughs at 
him, and the swallows weaving their airy flight in and out from 
sunlight to shadow, fearlessly swoop lower and twitter more loudly, 
deriding his foolish ambition. 

Crossing the gay torrent on a foot-bridge, we wandered up the 
creek a mile or more, past Hemlock island ; past the cave where 
saltpetre was j^rocured for making powder, in 1812, and again 
during the Confederate struggle, and even penetrated the low 
portal within which a "lost" river murmurs and echoes to our 
ears its unseen history, as it plunges through the dark recesses of 
its subterranean course; and the farther we went the more rugged, 
thickly wooded and charmingly untamed was the gulch. Finally 
the walls closed in altogether, but finding a boat we crossed to a 
stairway of stone leading to Lace Water Falls, where the stream 
leaps a hundred feet, falling in. a dazzling dishabille of rainbow- 
tinted bubbles and spray. 

' ' The Glen ' ' above the Bridge extends for a mile to Lace Water 
Falls, where Cedar Creek leaps one hundred feet from the upper 
level. The Glen was i^robably once an immense cave. The path 
follows the stream or is cut into the rocks that form its bank. On 
the right, a little above the Bridge, Cathedral Wall projects boldly, 
covered with mosses and lichens. Tile precipice on the left is in 
color light blue, and delicately traced with vines and evergreens. 
Farther uj), the cliff's on the right are red- brown, scarred and 
seamed, and crowned with crags. 



70 

Hemlock Island is an immense pyramid of evergreens. 

The curious visitor is likely to step across the brawling little 
stream along here, and peep into the gloom of a low-roofed cavern 
of which more anon. 

The upper part of the Glen is densely wooded until the walls 
close in and the path ends. A boat is here taken that lands at the 
Stone Stairway. Climbing this, Lace Water Falls are on the right. 
The slopes and steps of the cascade are smooth, and the waters 
dash from side to side fitfully, and weave a beautiful veil of foam 
and spray. 

The Bridge seen from this (the upper) side is imposing, and its 
magnitude is perhaps more striking ; but on the whole it is not so 
effective, regarded as an object by itself, as when studied from 
below. Harriet Marti neau, who once visited the spot, and has. 
written enthusiastically of it in the second volume of her "Re- 
trospect of Western Travel " (1838), declares that she found most 
pleasure in looking at the Bridge from the path just before reach- 
ing its base. "The irregular arch," she writes, "is exquisitely 
tinted with every shade of gray and brown, while trees encroach 
from the sides and overhang from the top, between which and the 
arch there is an additional depth of fifty-six feet. It was now early 
in July; the trees were in their brightest and thickest foliage ; and 
the tall beeches under the arch contrasted their verdure with the 
gray rock, and received the gilding of the sunshine as it slanted 
into the ravine, glittering in the drips from the arch, and in the 
splashing and tumbling waters of Cedar Creek, which ran by our 
feet." 

Nevertheless, if you are willing to regard the great arch only as a 
part of the ensemble, and to take into just account what is around 
and beyond it as a proper part of the scene, I advise you to place 
yourself a hundred yards above and then observe what a charming^ 
picture of glistening torrent, flower-hung rocks, stately trees and 
far away mountain crests is framed into its oval: and how incom- 
parable is the colossal frame itself— what sublimity of design — what 
wealth of decoration and lavishness of color! 

It cannot be too strongly insisted upon that while this curious 
product of water erosion (slowly turning a cave into a long tunnel, 
and then, by the falling of the most of the roof, leaving only an 
arch-like segment of the tunnel in the shape of a bridge) is the cen- 
tral attraction; there are a thousand other sources of enjoyment and 
pastime at this pilgrimage-point. 

For those who are content with rest and gossip, fresh air by day 
and dancing at night, the fine new hotel offers every inducement 
for a prolonged stay. To the larger class which seeks more active 
pleasure during the summer vacation, a wide range of good roads- 
and interesting country is open for exploration. "The Bridge," 
says the admirable little guide-book issued by the hotel people, 
" connects two of five round- t(3pped mountains that rise boldly from 
the great valley of Virginia, near the confluence of James and North 
Rivers. These have been named Lebanon, Mars Hill, Mount Jef- 
ferson, Lincoln Heights, and Cave Mountain, and embraced in the 



71 

park. Private carriage- roads, nearly ten miles long, lead aronnd 
01* over them, and give throngh arches cut in the forest, or from 
open spaces, a wonderful variety and extent of mountain scenery. 

''Eight hundred feet below the summit of Mt. Jefferson lie the 
green valleys of the rivers. Eight miles to the east the Blue Ridge, 
forest- covered and mist-crowned, rises to its greatest height, 4,300 
feet above the sea, and extends to north and south nearly one hun- 
dred miles before it is lost in the dim distance. A little to the left 
the glint of broken granite alone shows where the river bursts 
through, and at the right the crest lowers so that the Peaks of Otter 
may overlook. At the south. Purgatory Mountain, and at the 
north. House Mountain, throw their immense masses half across the 
plain. Against the western sky North Mountain, the 'Endless 
Mountain' of the Indians, lies cold and colorless. In the lifted 
central space of this great amphitheatre the i^ark is located." 

An old turnpike crosses upon the Bridge, but amid the ap- 
parently unbroken forest, few persons would discover it till told by 
the driver. In one of his inimitable articles in Harper^ s Magazine, 
before the war, Porte Crayon gives a ludicrous account of how his 
party behaved on the brink of the chasm ; and Miss Martineau con- 
fesses how her search was baffled. ' ' While the stage rolled and 
jolted," she writes, "along the extremely bad road, Mr. L. and I 
went prying about the whole area of the wood, poking our horses' 
noses into every thicket and between any two pieces of rock, that 
we might be sure not to miss our object, the driver smiling after us 
whenever he could spare attention from his own not very easy task 
of getting his charge along. With all my attention I could see no 
precipice, and was concluding to follow the road without more 
vagaries, when Mr. L., who was a little in advance, waved his whip 
as he stood beside his horse, and said, '■ Here is the Bridge! ' I then 
perceived that we were nearly over it, the piled rocks on either 
hand forming a barrier which prevents a careless eye from per- 
ceiving the ravine which it spans. I turned to the side of the road, 
and rose in my stirrup to look over, but I found it would not. 
do. . . . The only way was to go down and look up ; though 
where the bottom could be was past my imagining, the view from 
the top seeming to be of foliage below — foliage forever." 

The bridle paths wind through in endless mazes. 

Before crossing the Bridge the pedestrian will stop on Pulpit Rock 
and Cedar Cliff — wild, overhanging crags, from which the Bridge 
and the Glen are seen to advantage. After crossing, at the left a 
distant view of the valley is had from the dizzy heigiit of Marshall's 
Pillar, and the path to the right, following along tlie edge of Rock 
Rimmond, leads to the Chiiuney's, Crow's Nest, the Black Gables^ 
and Point Despair. 

The driveways do not cease at the Bridge, but continue by an 
elevated coui-se which gives some remarkable outlooks, and takes 
in various notable points. 

The hotel is open all winter, and there are few days in this 
southern latitude when it would not be entirely comfortable to visit 
all the points I have mentioned, and see the Bridge under a grim- 



72 

mer asj)ect, truly, than when mantled in the garlands of summer, 
yet with none of its grandeur diminished, 

THE TITLE. 

THE GEANT FKOM GEOEGE III. 

To Thomas Jefferson in 1774 

To Joseph Lackland in 1833 

To Houston & Cole in 1838 

To John B. Luster in 1841 

To Jesse Wooten in 1843 

To John W. Garrett in 1849 

To Anderson & Hitchcock in .... i862 

To Michael Harman in 1863 

To Asher Harman in 1875 

To H. C. Parsons in 1881 

Ilistorical. — The earliest mention of the Bridge is by Burnaby, in 
1759, who speaks of it as a "natural arch or bridge joining two 
high mountains with a considerable river underneath." 

A bloody Indian fight occurred near here about 1770, Arrow- 
heads, fragments of pottery, pipes, etc., are frequently found in the 
fields and roads of the neighborhood. 

Lightning struck the Bridge in 1779, and hurled down an im- 
mense mass of rock. 

Washington, when a surveyor for Lord Fairfax, visited it, and 
carved his name where it may now be seen. 

During the Revolution the French organized two expeditions to 
visit it. From their measurements and diagrams a picture was 
made in Paris, which for nearly half a century was copied in 
Europe and America as correct. 

The place was much visited in the early part of this century. 
Marshall, Monroe, Clay, Benton, Jackson, Van Buren, Sam Hous- 
ton, and others were registered here. 

The original Bridge tract was granted by the King to Thomas 
Jefferson, in 1774. After he was President he visited the place, and 
surveyed and made the map with his own hands. 

The next year he returned, bringing two slaves, Patrick Henry 
and wife. For them he built a log cabin with two rooms, and di- 
rected one to be kept open for the entertainment of strangers. The 
slaves were never manumitted and never recalled, the survivor 
dying where her master placed her twenty years before. Jefferson 
left here a large book ''for sentiments." This was written full, and 
with its pi'iceless record was accidentally destroyed, in 1845. Only 
a few extracts can be found. Jefferson spoke of it as yet to be ' 'a 
famous place, that will draw the attention of the world," Marshall 
wrote of " God's greatest miracle in stone." Clay, of ''the Bridge 
not made with hands, that spans a river, carries a highway and 
makes two mountains one, ' ' 

Henry Piper, a student, in 1818, attempted to carve his name the 
highest, and fonud that he could not return. He then undertook 
the incredible feat of climbing to the top, and accomplished it. 



73 

Corbiu Lackland fell from Pulpit Eock in 1833, and Robert 
Walker in 1845. Both were killed, 

A stranger leaped from. the Bridge in 1843, and his body was 
never identified. 

John Eice fell from a crag, but was saved by the branches of a 
tree, in 1865. 

Miss Randolph's celebrated adventure occurred on a large cedar 
stump, since demolished by relic hunters, which stood near the 
centre of the arch on the upper side. 

The first hotel was built by Major Douthat, a Revolutionary 
soldier, in 1815, at a place about two miles north of the Bridge. An 
opposition hotel was built near the former in 1820. In 1828, 
Captain Lackland, also a Eevolutionary soldier, built the first hotel 
on the location of the dwelling-house of the present owner, calling 
It Jefferson Cottage. The Natural Bridge Hotel was built two years 
later. 

At pi-esent the hotels consist of four principal buildings, Forest 
Inn, Appledore, Pavilion, and Bachelors' Lodge. These are sup- 
plied with running water and connected by bridges, and are in 
every respect elegantly furnished. 

Nelson County lies on the southeastern slope of the BlueEidge, 
betM^een its summit and James Eiver. Tye Eiver, a bold mountain 
stream, starts at the summit of the Eidge, at Montebello, and cuts 
through the county, affording great water-power. The Crab Tree 
is a large, mountain creek emptying into the Tye. 

The greatest of all cataracts in the Virginia mountains, is 
the Crab-tree Falls, reached by the old pike road from Vesuvius 
to Montebello and the Tye Eiver Valley, east of the Blue Eidge. 
Sheridan once passed a large part of his army across the mountains 
by this road. At the very summit, from among the topmost crags 
of Pinnacle Peak, one of the highest in Virginia, comes the Crab- 
tree to take its fearful course. Thence it descends three thousand 
feet in making a horizontal distance of two thousand, forming ''a 
series of cascades athwart the face of the rock, over which the water 
shimmers in waves of beauty, like veils of lace trailed over glisten- 
ing steel." The course of the stream is distinctly visible from a 
long distance down the face of the great crag, which contrasts 
sharply with the leafy masses on each side, and forms a striking 
landmark. The cascades vary from over five hundred feet in the 
highest, to fifty or sixty feet in the lowest, and are greatly different 
in form and appearance. The Crab-tree is not a large stream ; in 
one or two places the entire body of water is compressed into a 
shooting jet not more than six inches in diameter, but, with the 
economy of nature, nothing is lost in artistic effect. 

Three miles down Tye Eiver the ascent of the falls is begun by 
entering the forest and a chaos of massive rocks. "The forest is so 
dense," says H. L. Brigman, of New York, "that scarcely can the 
sunlight pierce it. Stately oaks, wide-spreading maples and hick- 
ories, the birch and beech, with an occasional pine, and at rare in- 
tervals the light gray foliage of the cucumber tree, make up a for- 



74 

est scene of wonderful beauty. Scarcely are we in the woods, when^ 
looking aloft, we see through the leafy green of tree-tops the white 
spray of the ' Galvin ' Cataract, named in compliment to our guide, 
and 150 feet high. This is a clear, bold fall, and rather large in 
volume and force than any of the others. The effects of the sun- 
light and shadow upon the fall and the forest are exceedingly grace- 
ful and picturesque, and from the beginning of the ascent, all the 
way to the top, the scene changes and shifts like a fairy panorama. 
An hour or more of hard work and stead}' climbing brings 
us to the base of the 'Grand Cataract,' the first leap of tlie entire 
series, a clear fall of over 500 feet. It was the Grand Cataract 
which we had seen from the road far below, and looking upward 
from its base, the sight was like a -sheet of foam falling out of a clear 
sky. The water, pure as crystal, is not projected with sufticient 
force to send it clear of the rock, and so it falls over its face, veil- 
ing the rugged front of the mountain as with a fleece. Standing at 
its base and looking upward, the spectator does not realize its im- 
mense height, but comparison of the lofty trees which tower into 
the heavens without approaching half the height of the falls, dem- 
onstrates the fact. At the very top and crown of the fall, the con- 
figuration of the rock gives the current a sharp diagonal set which 
adds much to its picturesque beauty. Midway a ledge of a few 
feet wide arrests the fall and throws it boldly forward in a straight 
line again adown a sheer and glistening precipice of more than 200 
feet. At the base of the Grand Cataract daisies bloom, and the 
waters are quite shallow." 

It is possible to work one's way upward along these capricious 
cataracts to the very summit, and thence overlook a wide area of 
primitive mountain country. All about the observers tower peaks 
of the first rank, heaving against the blue of heaven a surging mass 
of foliage. " Dotting the mountain sides in every direction are 
cleared fields in which corn, wheat and tobacco are raised, the clear- 
ings sometimes extending to the very summits, while scattered here 
and there in all directions, nestling in the intervals and pockets of 
the ranges, are the log cabins of tlie mountaineers. Safe in these 
fortresses and upon a kindly and generous soil, with a genial and 
salubrious climate, the natives live from one generation to another, 
an easy, thriftless and contented life, No one who sees the view 
from the head of the Crab-tree Falls or Pinnacle Mountain, no mat- 
ter what his travels or experience in this or any other country have 
been or may be, will ever be able to forget its matchless charm, re- 
pose and serenity." 

Norfolk County— Lake Drummond. — Of all the curious phe- 
nomena with which this land of marvels abounds, this far-famed 
lake may certainly be ranked among the most wonderful. It lies 
wholly within the limits of the Great Dismal Swamp, of which it 
also occupies the highest elevation, being 22 feet above mean tide- 
water, into which it flows on all sides through natural or artificial 
channels. It is distant from Portsmouth about IS miles, in a straight 
line, and about 25 miles by the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth 



75 

Eiver and the Dismal Swamp Canal. From the canal it is ap- 
proached by a "feeder," fonr miles in length, literally tunnelled 
through the dense foliage of juniper, cypress, gum and other heavy 
timber, and the still denser thickets of reeds and undergrowth^ 
which cover the quivering surface of the Swamp. As the visitor 
merges from the deep shadows of this silent pathway and glides out 
upon the broad bosom of the shoreless lake, he is at once impressed 
with the mysterious stillness and vast expanse of his surroundings. 
a voiceless, eternal solitude ! Fish are plentiful in the lake, but not 
a bird or a beast is to be found in its neighborhood ; though the 
outer margin of the Swamp is said to abound in deer, bears, wild 
turkeys, and other obiects of the hunter's delight. 

The Lake, says tradition, was first named Drummoud's Pond, af- 
ter the discoverer; who, wandering through the Swamj) in search 
of game, came upon this sheet of water, and, by following its mar- 
gin, managed to find his way into the open country, while his two 
comrades, less fortunate than he, were lost and never again heard of. 

During his visit to Virginia, in 1804, Erin's sweetest poet, Tom 
Moore, of melodious memory, wrote the following lines, which^ 
although familiar to most readers, will bear repetition in Poets- 
mouth Sketch Book, by reason of their own intrinsic beauty as 
well as of their intimate association with this neighborhood. 



A BALLAD. 



The Lake of the DismaL Swamp. 



Written at Norfolk, in Virginia. 

" They tell of a young man who lost his mind upon the death of 
the girl he loved, and who, suddenly disappearing from his friends, 
was never afterwards heard of. As he had frequently said in his 
ravings that the girl was not dead, but gone to the Dismal Swamp^ 
it is supposed that he had wandered into that dreary wilderness, 
and had died of hunger, or been lost in some of its dreadful mo- 
rasses." — Anon. 

"La poesie a ses monstres comme la nature." — D'Alembert. 

" They made her a grave too cold and damp 

For a soul so warm and true ; 
And she's gone to tlie Lake of the Dismal Swamp, 
Where, all night long, by a fire-fly lamp, 

She paddles her white canoe. 

"And her fire-fly lamp I soon shall see. 

And her paddle I soon shall hear ; 
Long and loving our life shall be, 
And I'll hide the maid in a cypress tree, 

When the footstep of Death is near ! " 



76 

Away to the Dismal Swamp lie speeds — 

His path was rugged aud sore, 
Through tangled juniper, beds of reeds, 
Through many a fen where the serpent feeds, 

Aud man never trod before. 

And when on the earth he sank to sleep, 

If slumber his eyelids knew, 
He lay where the deadly vine doth weep 
Its venomous tear and nightly steep 

The flesh with blistering dew ! 

And near him the she-wolf stirr' d the brake. 
And the copper-snake breathed in his ear, 

Till he, starting, cried, from his dream awake, 

''Oh ! when shall I see the dusky Lake, 
And the white canoe of my dear?" 

He saw the Lake, and a meteor bright 

Quick o' er its surface play' d — 
'' Welcome," he said, '^ my dear one's light ! " 
And the dim shore echoed for many a night 

The name of the death- cold maid ! 

Till he hollow' d a boat of the birchen bark, 

"Which carried him off from shore ; 
For he followed the meteor spark. 
The wind was high and the clouds were dark, 

And the boat return' d no more ! 

But oft from the Indian hunter's camp, 

This lover and maid so true 
Are seen at the hour of midnight damp 
To cross the Lake by a fire-fly lamp. 

And jjaddle their white canoe. 

From " time immemorial " this secluded and romantic pool has 
excited the interest and curiosity of Nature' s Students, and numbers 
of excursionists, prompted by one or other of these motives, an- 
nually invade its privacy and endeavor to penetrate the mystery of 
its existence. 

The Lake is nearly, round and about, 20 miles in circumference. 
There are, of course, many theories as to its origin, the most plausi- 
ble of which, perhaps, is that, during some extensive fire in the 
Swamp, the crust covering this body of water, then a subterranean 
pool, suddenly gave way and sank to the bottom. This theory is 
sustained by the fact that out in the middle of the huge basin, 
charred trees can be seen in many places still standing, as they pro- 
bably stood in pre-historic ages, grim guardians of Lake Drum- 
mund's secret. 



ENGLISH VIEWS OF VIRGINIA. 



INDIA. AND VIRGINIA. 

Au English farmer settled in Virginia writes to the London Agri- 
cidtural Gazette : 

I was interested in a letter from "M. R. A. C." on India. He 
surely takes too gloomy a view of agricultural affairs out there, as 
the figures he gives do not show so very badly compared with some 
States in America. For instance, he says they have in the Madras 
Presidency 93.1 of cattle and 76.9 of sheep to the square mile. I 
do not think it is fair to compare that with countries like England, 
France, etc. ; but to take some States out here — for instance, Vir- 
ginia. According to the return of the Commissioner of Agricul- 
ture, we have no more than 10 1 of sheep per square mile, or about 
one sheep on every 51 acres I have not seen any return of the 
number of cattle, but do not think it would show much better than 
the sheep. Yet this is one of the best countries for cattle and sheep 
farming. If your correspondent were here, I could show him num- 
bers of deserted villages and farm houses that were laid desolate by 
the late American war, and thousands of acres of good land laid out 
to the commons for the want of some one to cultivate it, the present 
owner not having capital to hire any one, as almost everyone here 
was completely beggared by the war, losing all they had, and often 
even the house was burned up by the armies. 

I do not think that any one except those who have seen it can 
form any idea of the state of things in Virginia. There is pastur- 
age here for millions of sheep and cattle ; all that is wanted is the 
British farmer, with his energy and capital, to make this the most 
prosperous State in America, as England will have to be supplied in 
great measure with beef and mutton from Virginia, which is only 
10 days from London, the central market of the world. 



LETTER OP J. W. PORTER, KENWOOD FRUIT FARM. 

Charlottesville, Va,, February 18, 1879. 

Editor of Journal of Agriculture : 

Sir, — In your February number there were some valuable hints 
given under the head of Pomology, which it is hoped will awaken 
thought. 



78 

It i.H doubtful if auy State in the Uuioii oifers a more promising 
field for the pomologist than Virginia. 

It is quite certain that the same energy, care and skill, devoted 
to that science here will bring richer returns in many directions 
than in the most favored of the other States. Jfowhere is success 
assured by simply planting out orchards and vineyards. Unceas- 
ing care, attention and labor, is the price of excellence in this pur- 
suit, as in most others. The comparatively few apple orchards of 
Virginia, but would to-day j) resent a very different appearance, and 
afford far different returns to their owner's pockets, had they re- 
ceived some of the care and attention bestowed upon their orchards 
by the cultivators of the famous Lake region Xorth. Many of our 
old orchards can be renovated, while needed care and culture is 
given to our young ones. 

The quality of our fruit is unsurj^assed. Our apples and grapes 
liave been exported and tested, and comparing prices received, it 
would appear that we stand in the front rank. 

What other apples have ever brought such high prices as have 
been paid for our Pippins and Lady apples abroad "? 

The writer has sold the product of one Wine Sap tree one season 
for $60.00, and he is informed by a friend that an actual return of 
more than one hundred dollars was obtained from one crop of one 
tree. True, such results cannot be hoped for often, nor should they 
be held up as a criterion, but we may and should estaolish our pre- 
eminence as a fruit-growing State. 

Since the success of our vineyards in Albemarle, and the triumph 
of their product in wine at the Paris Exposition, we may safely ex- 
tend our vineyards, until the slopes of our Piedmont are decked 
with the vine to rival their j)rototypes in Europe, in beauty and 
fruitfulness. We have begun; let us continue the good work. 

Grapes yield the quickest returns, and requires the largest im- 
mediate outlay. 

The old saying, " He who plants pears, plants for his heirs," is 
perhai)S as true of the aj)ple as of the pear, but it should deter no 
farmer from planting, for if we but reflect how large a part of our 
planning and labors are laid out for those who are to come after us, 
we will realize the lack of force in auy such objection. 

Those who cannot buy can plant seeds and rai^e their own trees, 
and as they get size, graft on desirable kinds. 

And thus every plan possesses some very decided advantages if 
seeds of healthy, vigorous stock alone be planted. 

The Damson, which is perfectly hardy and bears enormously here, 
should be more largely cultivated, and there would aj)pear to be no 
good reason why the choicer varieties of the plum 'will not do well. 
The same enemy we shall meet doubtless which everywhere attacks 
that fruit. But the "Little Turk" will surrender to the same 
treatment here by which his ravages are stayed elsewhere. 

The cherry flourishes here as it does nowhere else, and yet fine 
ones are scarce and high in i)i"ice. Fine Biggareaus sell often in 
New York at 25 cents per pound. 

We can produce fruit equal to any in the world, but there is a 



79 

general lack of skill in preparing it for market, and thus there is a 
disappointment in the returns. This we may remedy by careful as- 
sorting and packing. 

There are many localities in our State which are doubtless pre- 
eminently adapted to the xirofitable culture of certain fruits. Such 
locations should become the centres of production for such fruits. 

There are many advantages in concentrating production which 
are to be considered, aside Irom that which an accpiired reputation 
brings. Among these may be named the increased price which 
large lots often bring, and the ability to secure lowei" freight, and 
the power to attract capital to move it for exiDortation or convert 
the production into other forms for market — as into wine and 
brandy through the wine press for grapes, and through drying- 
liouses and canning factories for other fruits. 

The processes for making cider and vinegar in our State are 
wasteful to the last degree, and we can only do better when we are 
able through co-operation or some other means to procure better 
ai)pliances. 

There are many reasons for thinking that the j^each zone will ere 
long be located southward. 

The great peach orchards of IMaryland and Delaware appear to 
be failing, and it may prove in a very short time that XJlanting these 
will be no longer remunerative. The habitat of the peach has been 
constantly shifting since the early settlement of our country, and it 
is known that many places will not produce peaches where once 
they throve luxuriantly. Just as soon as a favored spot is found it 
will be wanted. J. W. Poetee. 



AN ENGLISHM4.N ON VIRGINIA A3 A FIELD FOR 
EMIGRATION. 



VIRGINIA AS A FIELD FOR EMIGRATION. 

This article by Mr. J. F. Jackson, an Englishman, was read be- 
fore the State Board of Agriculture and endorsed by them. A copy 
was also sent to Blacl: wood' h Magazine, Edinburgh : 

As an English settler in one of the Southern States, the writer has 
been much interested in reading the article in the Magazine^ which 
only reached him at the beginning of April, and he has felt that it 
called for some comment, especially as from the tenor of it the 
writer appears to be a gentleman settled somewhere south of the 
Potomac, and in that part of the country which is now (in the 
l)resent writer's* opinion Avith great justness) being pressed upon 
the notice of Englishmen as a desirable place wherein to find a 
home. The writer desires his remarks to be taken to especially re- 
fer to Virginia (the Old Dominion State), the most northern of the 
Southern States, and one comprised within the area of country 
mentioned in the article and with which he is most particularly 
acquainted. Any one reading the article in question would un- 
doubtedly arrive at the same conclusion as the friend referred to 



80 

therein, who concluded that the writer himself had been "hard hit,"' 
and although he disclaims this, and therefore one is bound to ac- 
cept the disclaimer, j^et the impression will remain that there is an 
element of truth in the surmise. ISJ^ow, at the outset, I would 
say that in one thing J do agree with the writer — viz., that this 
country is not the place for young English gentlemen to come with 
the idea that they can here lead the English country gentleman's 
life and enjoy all the comforts and conveniences of home ; but in 
this respect I claim that it is not singular, for if I am rightly in- 
formed (and I believe I am) the same conditions apply to every 
other country offering homes to settlers. The very fact that there 
is ample room for settlers in any country implies of itself that the 
soil has not been brought into subjection by man, and that before it 
can afford the conveniences and comforts of the "old country" it 
must be cleared and cultivated at the expense of much hard labor 
and houses and buildings must be erected and furnished before it 
can become home-like. Now, this clearing, cultivation, and build- 
ing is work very dissimilar to anything which happens in the or- 
dinary way of an English -country gentleman's life, and to a gentle- 
man coming from a city home must esjiecially appear most trying: 
and disheartening, as only time and persevei'ance can accomplish 
the work. All this, however, only goes to prove not that a new 
country is not titted for the comfortable existence of the over- 
crowded poi:)ulation of the old country, but that those who come 
should only be men who are determined to work and persevere, and 
if they belong to this class, whether they be gentlemen or laboring^ 
men, they can make headway and a home at the least and very fre- 
quently much more than they ever could have done at home. In 
another matter I must also take leave to differ from the conclusions 
of the writer, and that is as to it being most inadvisable for a new 
settler to invest his capital, whether it be large or small, in the 
land (and in this I do not mean it to be understood that I recom- 
mend that he should buy at once, for in this I to some extent agree 
with the writer and would say rent for a time, and thus employ 
your capital on the land, though I think this question of buying at 
once does not so much apply in an old settled State like Virginia as 
in new settled States as I hereafter show), but rather hoard the 
capital and go into some professional or mercantile occupation. I 
do not hesitate to say that no more unwise proceeding could be 
adopted by any gentleman coming here, for even if he succeeded in 
getting over the difficulties of entering the professions, which are 
not small, as new examinations have to be passed and other condi- 
tions complied with, he would then find the profession he had 
chosen, whether legal or medical, so overcrowded that not one-half 
of the members were able to earn a comfortable livelihood, and no 
better j)roof of this can be given to an English gentleman than the 
fact that the salaries attached to even the prizes of the profession 
in the legal department — viz., the judgeships — are in few cases 
more than from £300 to £400 per year, and even in the Supreme 
Court do not exceed £1,000 or £1,500 per year, and yet there are 
thousands of lawyers here ready to accept them; and in the medical 



81 

profession tlie same condition of things applies, as nearly all the 
doctors except the leading- men in the large cities are engaged also 
eitlier in farming or some other occnpation to enable them to eke 
ont a living. The statistics also of mercantile life here do not show 
snch a record as to make it the good opening the writer of the 
article would lead one to snppose. Something like 90 per cent, of 
all those who go into mercantile pursuits in this country either be- 
come bankrupt or have to make arrangements with their creditors^ 
whilst the remaining 10 per cent. — not more than one-half — succeed 
in making more than a bare living. Surely there is here food for 
reflection and ground for doubt as to the wisdom of the writer's 
advice. However bad the farmer's lot may be it cannot show a 
worse record than this, but on the contrary it does show a much 
better one, for even at the worst nine-tenths of those engaged in that 
occupation at least secure a good livelihood, for with very little ex- 
ertion indeed they can and do produce on their tiirms sufficient of 
nearly all the necessaries of life and many of the luxuries to Enable 
them to supply the needs of themselves and their tamilies. Having 
thus cleared the way of one or two objections, I would like now to 
say that, in my opinion, the great mistake made by the majority 
of Englishmen coming to America, is that they are induced to go 
out to the Western and Northwestern States under the idea that 
they can there obtain either free land or land at a very low price, 
and have a fine climate and comfortable surroundings and society, 
and they find, when too late, that the only free land to be obtained 
is that far distant from railroads aud means of transit, and that 
their croj^s when raised are valueless on account of the high cost of 
marketing them: that the climate is for a large part of the jcar so 
severe as to be almost unbearable, and that there is a total absence 
of society and those home-like comforts to which an Englishman is 
accustomed, and, as a consequence, the settler at once becomes dis- 
contented and blames the country for his lot instead of himself. If 
the intending settler would, before starting out, make inquiry for 
himself and seek for that part of the State which more closely ap- 
proximates to the climate and conditions of life to which he has 
been accustomed, and there determine to settle himself, he would 
much more frequently be apt to be satisfied, successful, and con- 
tented in his new home. ISJ^o doubt the writer of the article is right 
in suggesting care and caution in the investment of capital in land 
until one is first satisfied by exi^erience as to climate and modes* of 
farming, but this caution is many times more applicable to such an 
investment in the newer-settled States than in the old ones, for 
there the "land sharper" and ''railroad man," seeking to disp 
of ill-gotten spoil, is much more abundant, and the fleecing of new- 
comers is looked at with much moi-e leniency by those whose duty 
it should be to protect them than in the older-settled States. For 
an Englishman there can, in my opinion, be found no State in the 
Union where he will sooner feel at home than in Virginia, and 
where he will less miss those comforts and conveniences to which 
he has been accustomed. He will find there a genial climate — 
neither too hot in the summer nor too cold in the winter for regular 

6 



82 

work all the year ronnd — its proximity to tlie ocean on the east and 
the range of mountains on the west modifying the climate so as to 
make it most enjoyable and lifted for outdoor life. He will find 
farms for sale with comfortable, and, iu some cases, handsome 
houses and buildings upon them, and of sizes varying from 100 
acres to 1,000 acres, and fitted for the production of all the crops 
to the culture of which an English country gentleman or farmer has 
been accustomed all his life, and with the addition of Indian corn 
and tobacco. These farms can be bought at prices frequently not 
higher per acre than the rent paid per acre jjer annum in 
many cases in England — say from £1 to £5 per acre — and will, with 
the like cultivation and maturity, produce as good crops as the 
laud in England, whilst this produce can be sold for as good prices 
as can be obtained for the like crops elsewhere (the price of wheat, 
for instance, is very nearly the same here as in Liverpool), and they 
are as well fitted for the raising and feeding of live-stocks of all 
kinds as lands iu any other jjart of tlie world, whilst their jjrox- 
imity to markets enable such produce and stock to be disposed of 
with facility and at fair prices. The taxes on the lands are light, 
rarely exceeding iu any of the counties of the State, for l)oth State 
and county tax, $1 to $1.50 on the -flOO, or say 4s. to Gs. on the £20, 
and the assessment is based upon low valuations of the property, 
and therefoi'e, contrary to the statement of the wi-iter of the article, 
forms but a very small burden even upon land not under cultiva- 
tion. Much of the land is not assessed beyond from £1 to £2 per 
acre, and the taxes, therefore, are rarelj^ more than from two pence 
to three pence per aci'e per annum, and this assessment includes 
buildings of all kinds. He will also find good railway communica- 
tion to all parts of the States and in the eastern portion good water 
carriage by steamer and boat to the Northern and Eastern markets. 
And, above all, he will find a people intensely English in feeling 
and thought, and rejoicing in the fact of their English ancestry, and 
still amongst the old Virginia gentlemen delighting in old English 
sports and pleasures. All these things will tend to soften the diffi- 
culties in the way of life, and make the new-comer apt to be more 
contented and thus more persevering, and, with perseverance, uu- 
•doubtedly more successful. He will also find the farms to consist 
partly of cleared land, ready at once to produce croi^s, and partly 
of original and second-growth timber, which, when cleared, will 
produce good croi^s, and the timber itself is so near the markets as 
to be valuable, and also serves him for building, repairs, and fuel 
on the place. The fjict that in Virginia there is still room for thou- 
sands of good, thrifty emigrants is news, the writer knows, to most 
of the English people, as they are under the imjiression that, being 
the oldest settled State, it has long been completely filled up, and 
that land is there as dear as in England; but this is not so, and it is 
accounted for easily. Previously to the war the land of the State 
was held by the old planters' descendants of the original settlers iu 
immense estates, many of them originally acquired by grants from 
the Crown of England, and upon which were tine old mansions after 
the English type. These estates were cultivated by slave labor and 



83 

j)roduced the finest wheat, Indian corn, and tobacco crops, and 
made the phmters the wealthiest peo^jle in the States. The war, 
followed by the emancipation of the slaves, altered all this. The 
planters lost not only their capital but their labor, and thus placed 
were unable to cultivate their estates and had no alternative but to 
allow them to revert to their original wild state, as no steps were 
taken by the State to induce emigrants to come into the country to 
occupy them, and the planters themselves had not the means to do 
this work. There are thousands of acres now growing pine timber 
of large size where the corn roMS can still be distinctly traced, show- 
ing them to have once been in cultivation. This state of affairs has 
continued down to within the last few years, since which time, in 
consequence of the gradual recuperation of the State from the effects 
of the war and the thicker settling of the newer States, immigration 
has commenced to run into Virginia from the Northern and North- 
western States, and now there is a regular stream of people coming 
into the State from the North and West in order to be nearer the 
markets and to escape the rigorous winters. The State has also 
taken steps to make known the advantages which it can offer, and 
contemplates wider action so as to bring the facts to the knowledge 
of the English larmers, whose presence here is much desired. Within 
the last few years a number of English people have settled here, and 
they have done well wherever they have perseveringly followed 
their work and judiciously expended their capital. There is a wide 
field lor them, as the State is not only suited for arable culture, but 
also for stock-raising and dairy-farming and its nearness to the mar- 
kets of the North and East and to Europe, and its fine climate and 
freedom from cyclones and blizzards i^eculiarly fit it to compete 
successfully with any other of the States. In Southwest Virginia a 
very large quantity of the beef imported into England is fed, one 
gentleman (an Englishman) having there one of the largest cattle- 
feeding farms in the States, and the finest herd of short-horn cattle 
in the world. In addition to the agricultural resources of the State, 
it is now fonnd to i^ossess one of the richest mineral fields in Amer- 
ica, and this is just being developed by Northern capitalists. Iron 
ore of the finest quality, and inexhaustible in (quantity, is found to 
exist in close i^roximity to limestone and coal, and furnaces are 
being built, manufacturing establishments erected, and cities 
founded, where, twelve months ago, green fields and forests only 
were to be seen. In addition to iron, neai'ly every mineral of use in 
either the arts or manufactures is found in paying quantities in the 
State, and many of these are being worked and manufactured. The 
products of these minei-al fields can l)e now manufactured and de- 
livered in the great markets of the States at less cost than in any 
other State in the Union, and these conditions render success cer- 
tain and progress raj)id. This must react upon the agricultural 
progress of the State and improve the chances, already good, of 
those who may come here to farm, whilst they open out fields of em- 
ployment for capital and surplus labor nowhere else to be found so 
close to England. In the face of all these facts, which are within 
he writer's own knowledge, and will, I doubt not, be confirmed by 
he Hon. Thomas Whitehead, the State Commissioner of Agricul- 



84 

ture, he fails to see any reason why Englishmen should be deterred 
from coming here, or why so gloomy a picture should be drawn as- 
that of the writer of the article referred to above; but, on the con- 
trary, thinks that thousands of those now suffering from haid times 
and bad seasons in the ''old country" might, with advantage ta 
themselves and both the old and new country, transfer themselves 
and their capital to this State. Here they will be sure of a hearty 
welcome, and need neither lose their health nor their capital if they 
will only be careful to make inquiry for those parts of the State 
"where the j)artieular branch of farming, or other industry which 
they desire to follow, is most practiced, and this they can ascertain 
free of cost hj applying to the State Commissioner of Agriculture, at 
Richmond, who will assist and direct them with counsel and advice. 
Information coming from such a source may be relied on, as the 
State has no lands of its own to sell or any in which it is interested, 
except so far as it is interested in the welfare and prosperity of the 
whole State. The writer's advice (and it is given as the result of 
personal exjierience) w^ould be to come on to this State at once. It 
has just made a new start in the race, and those who enter at the 
earliest will stand the best chance of being the winners. It formerly 
stood at the head of all the States in wealth and importance, a 
position gained solely by its agricultural resources, and it is still as 
well fitted to do so on that ground alone as it ever was, and when to 
these is added its new-found mineral wealth, he would be a bold 
man who would declare that it was not destined once again to stand 
in the fore-front of the States in all that gives position and promi- 
nence to a country. 

Andersonville, Buckingham Co., February 22, 1887. 

I find I must diversify my products. Depending on tobacco al- 
together won't do; its like putting all your eggs in one basket, and 
then tripping over a stone — all are gone. Clover and orchard grass 
do undoubtedly flourish here, and on some of my heavy clay land I 
have grown it as heavy as I ever saw it in England; and with plenty 
of clover, sheep, hogs and cattle will flourish, and these mean large 
manure piles, and this, and this only, will m-Ake Mack, fat tobacco — the 
article always in demand at paying prices. Now, there is a good 
deal of light land, as well as red clay, through this section, on which 
the pretty yellow tobacco can be grown. I tried an experiment 
with that last year; bought a set of flues, and, for a novice, I was 
well satisfied. I got $15 for some, $20 for some, and $25 for about 
one hundred ijounds of mj^ best. 

The soil is so diversified, the climate is so delightful, the range 
of crops is so wide and large, ' the working season is so long, the 
w^ater is so good and so abundant, and farms can be bought so 
cheaply, that it has been a source of wonder to me that thousands 
upon thousands of Northern farmers have not bought and settled 
here. Englishmen hate to give up the old flag, and this is the main 
reason why they don' t flock here. If Virginia were to-day a British 
colony 100,000 Britishers would settle here in the next twelve 
months. Yours truly, J. W. Hebditch. 

Frince Edward Hand Book. 



ADDITIONAL FACTS. 



STRA.WS SHOW THE CURRENT. 

Elkhoen, ]^eb., Januarj^ 16, 1889. 
JEddor Gornucopki : 

My Dear Sir, — Your kind and welcome letter came to hand so 
long since that I am almost ashamed to answer it. At the time I 
was in California, bnt have been back for a conple of mouths. After 
I got through with my business I took a trip through the principal 
parts of the State to visit old associates. You must remember I 
lived in California twenty-odd years in an early day, and my ac- 
quaintances were pretty well scattered. I see a great change in the 
last fifteen years. But for my use I would not give Norfolk county, 
Va. , for the whole State of California. Everybody is anxious to 
sell out, and nearly every man is a real estate agent, until he finds 
as big a sucker as he has been. In portions of the State the climate 
is very fine, but that is about all there is in it. There is no money 
to be made only in speculation, and siwkers are getting scarce. 
There is very little market for produce, fruit, etc., consequently the 
market is overstocked, and everybody wants to get away. If I 
<?ould only sell out here, you would see my ugly mug inside often 
days. Last season has been \evy dull; however, I am in hopes 
things will liven up this season, and the prospects are very good 
for a lively year. I shall sell just as quick as I get a fair offer. I 
don't wish to sacrifice, but I think by fall I shall accomplish some 
sales. The weather here this fall and winter has been very mild. 
So far we have had no snow worth speaking of. Ice is now only 
about seven inches thick. In fact if we don't soon have colder 
weather the ice crop will be a failure. List night it rained all night. 
This morning it is a little colder, snowing a little. Oar ice crop is 
almost equal in value to our corn crop, on account of our immense 
packing establishments, some of them putting up as much as 100, 
ODD tons. One ice-hjuse, close to Ojaiha, covers two acres of 
ground and is fifty feet high. Several others cover an acre and 
over, but when I can dispose of my property here, they can take 
their ice and everything else. I prefer oysters and spots in mine. 
By the way, the next time you have spot for breakfast, think of 
your humble servant. Xow, Colonel, I think I have wi'itten every- 
thing of interest that I can think of. I have some very fine property 
in Omaha that rents well, and is bound to be very valuable. I will 



exchange any of it for Norfolk property. I hear of a great many 
exchanges for Florida lands, bnt I don't want to go so far South. 
Had I that Lynnhaveu property back again, he would be a dandy 
that got it away from me. 

Give my kind regards to all. Have my Horn changed to Elkhoru^ 
Neb., as I am now back on my old stamping grounds. 

Yours, J. B. SiLVis. 



WHAT PRACTICAL FARMERS HAVE DONE AND ARE DO- 
ING WITH PRINCE EDWARD SOIL, AND WHAT THEY 
SAY OP IT. 

Before the war Colonel Henry Stokes owned a large number of 
slaves and worked them on the very valuable estate, of which he is 
still the owner, located some five miles in the southeastern direction 
from Farmville, and containing 1,1094 acres. The ol)ject of what 
we now purpose writing is simply to demonstrate that on the same 
lands, under the system of free labor, he has succeeded better than 
he ever did with slaves, and if we are fortunate in establishing this 
fact, it seems to us that lamenting over losses is no longer in order, 
but that the time has come that farmers should realize, just as mer- 
chants and others have long since done, that it is as practicable and 
possible to make money since, as it was "befo' de wah." 

At the surrender the Colonel was left, just as the rest of the land 
owners in Prince Edward and all this section of Virginia were, with 
the naked land and nothing besides. Teams all gone, implements 
worn out or destroyed, fences fallen down, ditches neglected, provi- 
sions exhausted, no currency, no credit, and not a slave to his name. 
A few army horses were picked up, and, with such implements as 
had escaped total destruction, the boys and /r^'c labor made the first 
crop. 

Under the old system, the working force on the place consisted of 
about twenty-five hands, big and little, and about an average year's 
yield was made up of 350 ban-els of coi-n, 40 stacks of oats, 400 
bushels of wheat, and from 20 to 25 hogsheads of tobacco. 

Under the system now in operation, there are eighteen regular 
hands employed, and about an average year's work results in 1,200 
bushels of wheat, 75 stacks of oats, 500 bushels of corn, and 40 to 50 
hogsheads of tobacco. Mark the difference in favor of free over 
slave labor on a farm located and worked in Southside Virginia. 
And now as to how all this has been accomplished. The farm re- 
mains one, but has been so divided for working purposes that there 
are really six different farms, on each of which there are three regu- 
lar hands and one pair of mules. A healthy rivalry exists between 
them, and, under the direction of a ''level head," the separate com- 
mands of this army of laborers move on to a common victory. No 
one farm contains quite 200 acres, but each is supplied with about 
an equal amount of up- lands and low-grounds. 

Of the seven sons of Colonel Stokes, all young boys at the close of 
the war, it may be said that they have fed uj)on and tattened upon 



87 

these acres. Not one of them has gone West because Virginia was 
too po6r to furnish a decent support, but they have all remained in 
Virginia, six of them on farms, three of them, on this farm, and all of 
them to-day the owners of fine property, ^ 'owing no man anything," 
independent, hardworking and happy. The old homestead did it. 

Let us give a simple account of a year's work of one of the 
brothers, Mr. H. A. Stokes, who has never left the place, but has 
been farming right there since the war. He has charge of the acres 
lying on the west side of Bush Kiver, and which he has divided into 
three farms, with three hands and two mules on each. 



a:mount realized. 

The land is assessed, as we 

suppose, at $15 an acre, $6, 000 

800 
324 
800 
500 
216 
300 
150 
300 



Wages, 

Feeding hands. 
Value of team. 
Farming implements. 
Feeding teams, 
Guano bill. 
Taxes, 
Personal exxjenses, - 

Total, - 



$9,390 



AMOUNT INVESTED, 

Income from tobacco, 
" '' wheat, 
" " oats, - 
" " corn, - 

Meat, hay, cattle, etc., - 

Total, - 



$5,000 
700 
150 
300 
250 

$6,400 



We do not pretend to be strictly accurate in these figures, but 
they are so nearly so as to serve our purpose, which is to challenge 
the ivorld of legitimate workers to ' 'trot out' ' the man who is doing 
so well in a safe business and on the same amount of capital invested. 
If such figures as these don't encourage our young men to stick to 
the old home and to the irork to be done there, with such hope of 
reward, we don't know what will. — Frince Edward Hand Book. 



A PENNSYLVANIA FARMER. 



W. L. Scott believes that there is no place like Eastern" 

Virginia. 

Ex- Congressman William L. Scott, of Pennsylvania, who was in 
New York Sunday, was interviewed by a Star reporter. Among 
other things, Mr. Scott is quoted of saying : ''The climate of lower 
Maryland, as Eastern Virginia, is always conducive to health in the 
winter time, and Fortress Monroe has had a very successful season 
this year. Few people in this country know tliat within nine hours 
of New York they can reach a climate as mild and balmy as that of 
Marseiles in France. By taking the railroad to Cape Charles, a boat 
transports the cars by water to Fortress Monroe and Norfolk, where 
we connect with the different Southern railroad systems, ('ape 
Charles is having a harbor that will cost from $250,000 to $300,000, 



88 

and is destined to be tlie greatest oyster, fruit and farm-truck ship- 
ping j)oint in the United States. 

The counties of Accomac and Northampton, in Virginia, are in 
an almost tropical climate the year round. Land there is worth 
from $10 to $20 an a"cre, and is just as fertile as any of the garden 
spots on Long Islaud that cost from $(500 to- 1800 an acre. The ad- 
A^antages of the climate give the farmer there six weeks ad^'antage 
over the Long Island farmer. Then this line of railroad contracts 
to put the products of the Virginia planter into Fulton Market 
just as cheap, if not cheaper, and just as cheap as the Long Island 
trucker can make his haul across the city, paying ferriage, etc. 
For instance, a man at anj'^ of our new points on the Peninsula 
picks his products in the evening, and they will be in Fulton Mar- 
ket the next morning at 5 o'clock. 

Take la compass and draw a circle over the lower Chesapeake, 
within a radius of seventy- five miles of Cape Charles, and you will 
find that 18, 000, 000 bushels of oysters are gathered there every year, 
while there are only 4,000,000 bushels gathered in all the other 
waters of the country. You can easily see what an oyster market 
and packing centre Cape Charles is likely to become. About 3,000 
bushels of oysters can be taken from an acre, while wheat yields on 
an average of about twenty-five bushels. Taking all these things 
into consideration, this new railroad down the j^eninsula has a far 
broader significance to New York and Philadelphia than most peo- 
I)le have imagined." 



LA.ND PROFITS IN AUGUSTA COUNT X". 

Colonel John H. Crawford, member of the Legislature, for ten 
years kept books, and his return on land, 300 acres, for which he paid 
$83 per acre, was 10 per cent. 

E. T. Dudley, for three years on land, which he paid $70 an acre 
for three years ago, has made 12 per cent. 

A. H. Towberman, on land for which he paid $40 per acre, has 
made 15 per cent. 

James M. Stout, on 300 acres, for which he paid $75 per acre — 
farmed on the shares — his, the landlord's share, for ten years, netted 
him 10 per cent. The tenant, a poor man, who had nothing but 
two horses, a wagon, $200 and two children, and had to incur a 
considerable debt to stock the farm, in ten years paid off that debt, 
owned without debt six horses, wagons, plows, harvester, cows, and 
all the plenishing of a large farm; eight children, only one of which 
had been at all useful to him, and he only for two years, and had 
besides $7,000 in money. 

Mr. W. T. Push, on land worth from $25 to $30 per acre, and 18 
miles from the depot (now within three of one and two of another), 
for twenty -five years cleared 8 per cent. 

What is said of Augusta may be affirmed of all the Valley coun- 
ties. 



89 



A NEW YORKER. 

Louisa C. H., Va., February 6, 1889. 
Mr. J. J. Poetee: 

Dear Sir, — Yours received, aud I will state I came from AViscon- 
siu in 1887, and purchased a farm of uearly 300 aci-es in Louisa 
couut3^ Ya., and I am delighted with my purchase and the people; 
and as for health and climal^e, is the best I ever heard of. My wife 
was an invalid when she came here, but is now all right. 

We raise corn, wheat, oats, tobacco, hay, all kinds of fruit, and 
wild berries in profusion; in fact, there is everything a man could 
wish for. 

I would further say that I was formerly from Erie county, N. Y., 
and lived in Wisconsin 30 years, and I have looked over the West 
pretty well. I sold my Wisconsin farm for $5,200, and I would not 
go back if I could have it for nothing. 

Yours truly, A. C. Dake. 



TWO BUCKEYES IN NORFOLK, VA. 

We left Norwalk on the -Ith of February, at 8 o'clock, reaching 
Cincinnati in the evening, and, transfering over to Covington, took 
the Kentucky Central to Winchester, and thence to Charlottesville 
on the Chesapeake and Ohio Eailroad. After seeing the home of 
Thomas Jefferson and the University he established, we arrived in 
Eichmond at 9 o'clock P. M. of Febrnary 5th. The next day we 
viewed the State Capitol and the great monuments in memory of 
Washington and other j)rominent men. We then took the train for 
Newport Xews, where we boarded the steamer and steamed along 
the Chickahominy and James Elvers, through the Hampton Eoads, 
one of the greatest seaports in the world. We viewed old Fortress 
Monroe and the Government hospital. We arrived in Norfolk on 
the evening of the 6th. Next we visited over the river in Ports- 
mouth and the Navy Yard, examining the new building of dry- 
docks and iron clads. We went on board the steam cruiser, '' Pen- 
sacola," lying at the docks. The ground;^ embrace sixty acres, and 
six himdred soldiers are stationed there, and their i^arades were a 
grand sight for a ^'back woodsman." 

Our next point visited was Virginia Beach, eighteen miles from 
Norfolk. On our way we stopped to visit La Selle Jackson and his 
good wife, who are pleasantly situated, and possessors of 1,100 acres 
or more of grand land. We will always remember with pleasure 
the kind hospitality we received from them. Virginia Beach resort 
boasts of a building, the Princess Anne Hotel, which encloses ten 
acres of ground, a mammoth structure. This being our first sight 
of salt water, we tasted it and picked up shells to our hearts' con- 
tent. In both going and returning, we passed over the Alleghany 
Mountains, and enjoyed some of the finest scenery we liave ever 
witnessed. At the highest peak, from 3,000 to G,000 feet above the 



90 

sea level, we could look down long, winding valleys, with the cloud 
rifts floating between. 

Norfolk is a seaport city of 45,000 inhabitants, a great exchange 
centre for cotton and general produce. The climate is mild. We 
found the gardens nicely started, peas six inches high, and cab- 
bages, potatoes, and other vegetables nicely growing. While we 
Northerners shiver about the winter fires, these people are gather- 
ing in and marketing their produce every montli in the year. 
When one thinks of the aches and pains, and the sufferings of the 
unclad and poorly fed, the frozen out wheat and clover, the Sunny 
South offers attractions that rob the words, "Go West, young man," 
of all force in contrast. The South is the laud of agricultural 
plenty, where the bugs and worms do not hold first mortgage claims 
on the farmer's crops, nor winter and its attendant diseases rob life 
of i)leasures. This Garden of Eden country, with its bracing, re- 
freshing sea breezes, a perpetually blooming garden of happiness 
and health, offers inducements to the transient visitor to linger for- 
ever, no other region can. 

The prejudice against the people of the South, growing out of the 
slanders against them so frequently heard in the North, is fast melt- 
ing as we visit them personally. They are the most hospitable,, 
generous and cultured peoi^Ie, as a class, to be found anywhere. 
Should we find it necessary to change our i-esidence, it would cer- 
tainly be to the South, and to all doubters we say, go and see where 
health, wealth, prosperity and liappiness go hand in hand with a 
generous, hospitable, law-loving people. 

Eespectfully, John J. S.aiith, 

Levi Sutton. 



THROUGEI THE VIRGINT VS--AN OHrOA.N. 



Over the Chesapeake and Ohio — Rare Sceni^ry — Historic 

Ground. 

He who has in immediate prospect a journey through old Vir- 
ginia is to be envied. Aside from the fact that nearly every foot 
of her soil is historic ground, she is rich in beautiful mountain 
scenery and natural phenomena. From Kanawha Falls, on the 
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, east to Clifton Forge, may be seen 
an unbroken chain of varied and delightful scenery, challenging 
the admiration of every one who looks upon it. 

These huge piles of craggy earth seem to serve no purpose but to 
please the imagination; but, upon incpiiry, I was told that some of 
these lands, which a few years ago were selling for only 25 cents per 
acre, were now worth .f 100 per acre. So equitably does nature ad- 
just her affairs, that all portions of the globe have sources of wealth. 
The extent and value of the mineral resources of Virginia cannot 
be computed. Here are found in vast quantities, coal, iron and a 
superior quality of black slate. There are also extensive quarries of 



91 

granite, so plentiful, indeed, that it is now used in some of ttie finer 
buildings. 

East of the Blue Eidge, and especially along the James Eiver, are 
some of the best agricultural land that can be found anywhere. 
Most of these farms, or plantations, have not been subdivided since 
the war, and bear evidence of a want of good husbandry. 

One of our thorough Ohio farmers would, in a few years, work 
such a transformation in the appearance and value of these lands^ 
that they would easily rival the famed lauds of the Scioto Valley. 
These lands possess the advantages of easy tillage, convenient mar- 
kets, fertile soil, and easy cultivation. The climate, too, in this 
latitude is such that two crops are frequently taken from the same 
field in one season. There is absolutely no danger from early or 
late frosts to the various fruits and vegetables produced in this 
favored climate. 

The enterprise and growth of the cities in what is called the Tide- 
water district, will excite the interest of the observer. Richmond,, 
at the head of tide- water navigation, is making wonderful progress. 
It will bear favorable comparison with the most enterprising West- 
ern city, being the capital of the State, and possessed of superior 
advantages, it bids fair to become one of the leading cities of the 
Union. More highly favored in many respects stands Norfolk, on 
one of the best harbors in the world. It only needs the impress of 
Northern enterprise to become an early and formidable rival of 
Richmond. It already surpasses her in commercial importance, 
but is behind in manufacturing industries. It is a pity that the 
wasted energies of the colored portion of the population cannot be 
employed in making boots and shoes instead of blacking them. A. 
little capital and Northern enterprise will work wonders for this 
city. No one knows this more fully than the Virginian, and from 
our experience and observation we confidently assert that those who 
are willing to aid in the development of these resources from what- 
ever land or clime he hails, will receive such cordial welcome as 
will make him feel that he is indeed among friends. The reputa- 
tion of our Southern neighbors for hospitality is verified in the ex- 
perience of everyone who does himself the pleasure of making them 
a visit. 

Scliools and churches are as plentiful as in the North, and the 
moi-al and educational standing of the average Virginian has not 
declined since the days of Jefferson. 

The historic places about Richmond and Norfolk will justly 
claim the attention of the tourist, and he will be pleased to note 
that here, Avhere the tide of battle rose highest, all marks of strife 
are covered with the mantle of brotherly love. The warm welcome 
extended to the x)i"Ogressive men of the North, added to the natural 
resources of the Old Dominion, will, ere long, cause her waste 
places to rejoice, her cities to fiourisli until they attain the place in 
the commercial world designed by nature and demanded by this 
progressive age, and will, above all, arouse her people from the 
lethargy of the olden times. For the consummation of these, the 
olden times are rii)e and the era of prosperity is at hand. — Buckeye 
Farmer, Mannfield, O. 



92 



MR SCOTT'S GREAT TRUCK yARM. 

Onancock, Va., April 29.— lu spite of the many heavy rain- 
storms in this section the present season, farmers Avho planted fall 
and winter crops are succeeding Avell. Captain Orris A. Browne, 
who has charge of Hon. William L. Scott's Hollywood Place, near 
Cape Charles, the largest truck farm in Virginia, has just finished 
delivering in Northern markets his winter and spring crops of kale 
find spinach, aggregating 46, 785 barrels. The early crop of cabbage 
on the same farm, which will be ready for market in two weeks, will 
probably exceed 20, 000 barrels. Crops of pease, strawberries, Irish 
potatoes, egg plants, tomatoes, onions, etc., will follow, which, 
with the crops of corn and oats to be raised for consumption on the 
place, will make, it is thought, the largest amount of produce ever 
gathered in one year from one farm in this State. A large guano 
factory has just been established on the place, and arrangements 
have been completed for erecting a large canning establishment to 
put up the fruits and vegetables from the farm and the excellent 
oysters that abound in the adjacent waters. — Baltimore Stm. 



COME AND SEE. 



We wish some of the Northern writers who tell about the per- 
secuted Northern Republicans in Virginia could go to the Natural 
Bridge and see Colonel H. C. Parsons and his private cottage and 
his public grounds and hotels, and his 2,000 acres of land, his grass 
fields and forests. No doubt many of them would pray to become 
martyrs. Some of the most active, spirited, prosperous Virginians 
In the State are English, Irish, Scotch, Germau and Yankee agri- 
culturists. We have seen all together mixed u]), eating, talking 
and working with all sorts of Southern men. Confederates and 
Federals, and no man could see any difference in the rights, privi- 
leges, courtesies or accommodation extended and accorded in pub- 
lic or private life. — Southern Planter. 



VIRGINIA SUMAC. 



The News, of Lynchburg, referring to the cultivation and drying 
of sumac, says this is an industry which was started in this city in a 
small way by one of our citizens a few years ago, and is growing to 
large proportions. The Virginia sumac was scarcely known as an 
article of commerce at that time. The Sicily was almost universally 
used by the tanners and morocco dealers and dyers. The price of 
the untried Virginia leaf manufactured, was about |30 to 135 per 
ton, while Sicily readily commanded -1120 per ton. In the course 
of events the crop in Sicily was blighted for two successive years, 
and the consumers were driven to the use of Virginia leaf, and since 
the trial the two articles have come to be esteemed very differently. 
The Virginia now competes very successfully with the Sicily, and if 



93 

the gatberers and manufacturers would be more careful in the dry- 
ing and preparation of the leaf, the Virginia product would outstrip 
the Sicily. If the Virginia tobacco raisers could be induced to have 
the sumac leaves, which grow all around them, gathered at the 
proper season, haul them to their tobacco barns (most of which are 
sux^plied with flues\ and dry the leaf by artificial heat instead of 
the sun, as is now done, they would realize more clear money than 
they do by their tobacco crop, the production of which is attended 
with labor and exi^ense from the day the plant-bed is burned, and 
for twelve months afterwards, when they bring their weed to mar- 
ket and sell it (in some instances) for less than a dollar a hundred. 
The sumac could be gathered and cured easily in theii- tobacco- 
house, and sold readily at a dollar per hundred in less than a, 
month. 

This industry has grown to proj^ortions in this city, which are by 
no means contemptible. A few years ago only one ton per day was 
manufactured here. Now about eight or ten tons is the average 
daily output, and if the material, which grows spontaneously in the 
fields and along the hedgerows, were gathered, cured, and brought 
to market to be utilized, it could be increased very largely. The 
market for this article is almost limitless; the raw material grows- 
almost everywhere. 



ADVANTAGES OP THE SOUTH. 

In his recent travels through the South, and especially in Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina, Mr. Hinter A. Helper speaks in glowing 
terms of the outlook throughout the Southern States. Mr. Helper 
gives the following correct and excellent reasons why people of the 
North, who desire to improve their fortunes and prolong their lives, 
should go South. 

First. — The lives of tens of thousands who are injuriously affected 
by the sudden changes and the extreme cold of Northern winters 
will be prolonged many years. 

Second. — Considering the social, educational and religious advan- 
tages, transportation facilities, public improvements and fertility of 
the soil, the lands are cheaper than can be found in any other part 
of this country. 

Third. — Taking into consideration the cost of land and expense 
of tillage, a much greater net profit can be realized annually than 
is realized in any Northern or Eastern State. 

Fourth. — The present price of lands not being at all proportioned 
to their productive value, the general advantages being equal, if 
not superioi', to those in other sections, an investment in land in the 
South is highly profitable. 

Fifth. — In no other section of the country is the practical farmer 
and laud owner held in so high esteem as in the Southern States, 
and nowhere on the face of the earth will the Northern farmer and 
citizen meet with such a hospitable welcome as awaits him at the 
hands of Southern peox)le. — FulasM News. 



94 

THE SOIL OP VIRGINIA 

is as varied as the colors in a crazy quilt. Parts of it produce wheat 
€qual to Dakota, corn ecfual to Illinois, potatoes equal to IS'ew York, 
cotton equal to Georgia, while its tobacco is the best made. Ap- 
ples, pears, peaches and grapes are raised almost without labor, and 
cattle at half the cost in the colder climates. 

The earth, which is so fertile on its surface, contains beneath it 
coal, iron, limestone, gold, copper and lead, with every variety of 
superior building stone. 

One of the best harbors on the continent is upon the coast of Vir- 
ginia, while its tide- waters furnish an inexhaustible supply of oys- 
ters and fish. — National Uepuhlican, 



Baltimore, Md., April 24. — The Manufacturers^ Record recenUj 
asked a number of leading Southern bankers for their views upon 
the condition of business in their section and the prospects. Re- 
plies have been received from a large number, and, without ex- 
ception, they tell of great improvement in business, of activity in 
trade and manufactures. In the last two years the South has raised 
over 14,000,000 bales of cotton; over 1,000,000,000 bushels of corn; 
near 100,000,000 bushels of wheat; 160,000,000 bushels of oats— the 
total value being over $1,600,000,000, which is far in excess of the 
value of the South' s agricultural i)roducts in any two consecutive 
preceding years. 



A CAUTION. 



Perhaps the most astonishing of many recent developments of 
human perversity is the number of persons from this neighborhood 
who are making preparations to migrate to Oklahoma at heavy ex- 
pense, and with a fair prospect of finding two, three, or four 
claimants to every decent acre of soil in the territory, when fair 
farming land and a beautiful, well- wooded and well- watered country 
of charmingly diversified surface is to be found right at home in the 
neighboring States of Maryland and Virginia. The money silent 
in getting to Oklahoma, i^aying for one's camp outfit, staking a tree- 
less, badly watered claim, recording it and getting out a patent, 
carrying on a lawsuit of indefinite length, hiring a high-jDriced back 
woods surgeon to dig out thebullets, which unscrupulous ''jumpers" 
and brigands have fired into one's body, and buying a ticket for the 
East again when all is over, would set a young man up on a first-rate 
ranch within a hundred miles of Washington, with railroads and a 
market almost at his gates, cheap food and clothing, plenty of help 
at low wages, the comforts and pleasures of civilization within easy 
reach at any hour, and a fair chance of striking something rich in 
the mineral line in addition to the value of the land for agricultural 
purposes. The rush from the Atlantic coast to the wild West is 
like letting go of two birds in the hand to run after one in the 
bush. — Washington Star. 



95 



TITLES OF REA.L ESTATE IN VIRGINIA. 

The law of Virginia re(iuires all records and transfers of real 
estate to be carefully kept in the County Court Clerk's office of the 
county where the real estate is located. All mortgages, deeds of 
trust, judgments, or liens of any kind, must be duly recorded in 
the Clerk's office, or they will not be a lien on real estate. .Thus, it 
will be seen, parties buying need not fear bad titles, as the 
Recorder's office must show all liens on any land, or they will not 
bind the real estate. — -Ex. 

In our opinion, the complaint made by Northern settlers in the 
past (and we admit there has been much) has not resulted from the 
purchase of bad titles, but from the fact that they have committed 
themselves to the liands of parties having lands to sell, or which, 
if they sell, they are to be i^aid; frequently men from the N^orth, 
who have bought to sell, or who sell for others. 



CAPITAL INVESTED IN LAND. 



We have read with interest a communication in the April issue of 
the American Farmer, from a correspondent who signs himself A. 

He states and discusses a proposition which, in substance, is, that 
in the Middle Atlantic States it is better for a person, who intends 
to devote his attention and means to agriculture, to invest in the 
cheap and partly worn-out lands, than in those which are well im- 
proved and high priced. We agree fully in this opinion, and could 
cite instances in Virginia where such investments, under good 
management, have doubled in value for each five years' rotation 
for at least two or three periods. 

Let us state the case arithmetically : 

1.— .4 buys 200 acres at $50 per acre, - - $10,000 
Invests in live stock and imi^lements, - 2,000 

Retains for a working capital, . . . 3^ 000 



Total investment, $15,000 



He gets 6 per cent, net profit per year, - $ 900 

And for five years, . . . . . 4,500 

In this time his land, being already well improved, there^^is 
nothing, perceptibly, added to its value. 

2. — B buys 200 acres of originally good but im- 
poverished land for $10 per acre, - - $2,000 
Invests in stock and imj)lements, - - 2,000 
Retains for a working capital, - - - 3,000 

Total investment, $7,000 

In the case of A, who has purchased improved land, we have 
credited him with 6 per cent, net profit, after payment of all ex- 
penses and the support of his family. This su^Dport is a fixed quan- 
tity and an important factor in the profits of everj^ farm; but in the 
case of B, for the first term of five years (or a full rotation), his 
profit has been in his family support and the improvement of his 
land, which, it is reasonable to suppose, has doubled in value, and 
therefore he is credited with $2,000 as against A's $4,500. 

For the second term of five years, let us suppose that A has added 



97 

10 per ceut. to the value of his hind, being a liberal allowance for 
land highly improved when he took it in hand; and for this term B 
will be entitled to the same credit for net profits beyond family sup- 
port, and then the two cases will stand thus: 

1.— A's land, 150 per acre, .... $10,000 

Increase in value, 1,000 

Implements and stock, .... 2,000 

Working capital, - - - - - 3,000 



$1G,000 



¥et profit, 6 per ct. per year, $960; 5 years, 14,800 

Gain in value land, 1,000 

]S'et profit first five years, .... 4,500 



Gain in ten years, $10,300 

2.— B's land, $10 per acre, - - -. - $2,000 

Increase in value of land in five years, - 2,000 

Implements and stock, . . . . 2,000 

Working capital, 3,000 



$9,000 



I^et profit, 6 per cent., .... $ 540 

!N"et profit for five years, .... 2, 700 
Gain in value of land during first term of 

five years, 2,000 

Gain in value second term, - - - 2,000 



Total gain in ten years, . . . . $6, 700 

With good management B should again add $2,000 to the value 
of his land in another period of five years; but the process is carried 
far enough to show the relative gains in each case, according to the 
capital invested. A's capital of $16,000 has yielded him a profit of 
$10,300, or about 64 per cent, in ten years, and B's capital of $7,000 
has given him a profit, in the same time, of $6, 700, or about 100 
per ceut. 

Such figures can be verified by many actual experiences, and they 
"will show the difference between a man's paying for lands rich by 
nature, or made so by the skill of others, and the reaping of the 
profits of his own skill and labor. Land originally good, but worn 
down, of which there are many thousands of acres in Virginia, 
quickly yield to proper culture, and a large advance in value can 
be safely relied on. — Montlily Journal, Virginia Agrjculturat Society, 
1879. 



LARGE CROPS-SPECIAL STATEMENTS. 



The Commissioner of Agriculture desired to obtain from reliable 
men accurate statements of tlie largest known product, per acre, of 
different crops in the counties of the State. This was designed to 
show those unacquainted with the soil in its best condition what 
our exhausted lands had been and what they could be made. He, 
therefore, made the inquiry of a number of gentlemen in cA^ery 
county. His last rej)ort has a crop table, showing that there had 
been in three counties a yield of fifty bushels of wheat per acre; in 
six counties, forty bushels; in one county, forty-five, and in four, 
twenty-five bushels; their estimates were for the crojjs, fields large 
or^small. In Middle Virginia, five counties rei)ort from forty te 
forty-five bushels per acre; three from twenty-five to thirty-eight, 
and four over twenty bushels. In Piedmont, one over forty bush- 
els; four over thirty bushels, and three over twenty bushels. In 
the Valley, five counties from forty to forty- three bushels, and nine 
counties from thirty to thirty- eight bushels. In the Blue Eidge, 
which has but three counties, one reports forty-seven bushels and 
another thirty-five. In Appalachia, seven counties report twenty 
to twenty-five bushels, and one county thirty-four bushels. In 
corn, Tide-Water rei)orts for their highest known yield from 50 to 
112 bushels; other corn sections, best yields from forty to eighty 
bushels. 

SOUTHSIDE AND COTTON. 

In Brunswick county, in 1880, John Lucy bought 160 acres of 
land for |250 cash. There was but an indifferent, uninhabited house 
on the place. In 1887 the following is a report of his crop, accord- 
ing to his statements: He worked three horses and four hired hands, 
that cost him $80 each per year and board. His crop was 13 bales 
of cotton; 6,500 x)ounds of tobacco, which netted 10 cents per pound; 
600 bushels of corn; 207 bushels of wheat; 16,000 pounds of oats. 
He raised 10 lambs from 10 ewes. He kept 20 head of cattle; milk- 
ing regularly 6 cows, and selling annually 3 beeves. He made 



99 

"between 75 and 100 bnsliels of sweet potatoes and plenty of veg- 
etables. He raised his own pork and sold some. 

George Matthews, in 1887, on a worn-out farm of200or 300 acres^ 
made from 12,000 hills of tobacco about 2V acres a crop, that sold 
for -1550, expending |25 for extra labor and $25 for commercial fer- 
tilizers. He made fully as much corn, wheat, oats, etc., as would 
support his farm and family, 

William F. Purdy went on 700 acres of land, in 1870, working on 
shares for half. He worked three horses. He paid the owner aui 
average of -f 700 per year for his share, and in 1880 bought the place 
for $3,300 cash. He had -11,200 left. He has prospered, making 
clear money ever since, and in 1888, a bad crop year, made 30 bales 
of cotton, 1,045 bushels of corn, and a fair crop of tobacco. 



VALLEY FRUIT. 



Botetourt is booming ahead in her leading industry of fruit and 
vegetable canning. In addition to the thirty-odd establishments 
run last year under the most unfavorable circumstances that can be 
imagined, preparations are being made to start others this year. 
Mr. C. M. Xalls, of Eoanoke, will shortly begin the erection of a 
factory near Troutville, with the capacity to put up 10,000 cans 
daily. He expects to contract with farmers in the vicinity for 100 
acres of tomatoes. Estimating 300 bushels to the acre at 25 cents 
per bushel, it will be seen that it is proposed to pay the farmers 
supplying this single cannery the sum of $6,000. — Cor. Richmond 
Dispatch. 

Back Creek makes down from Bent Mountain into the rich lime- 
stone valley of the Eoanoke Eiver, in Eoanoke county. The lands 
are freestone, steep and while cheap in price are fertile. It is a 
magnificent apple and peach section, producing the most magnifi- 
cent specimens. Last fall a party from Xew York bought all the 
Albemarle pippins in the Valley, at $1 per bushel on the trees, and 
they were carried North. One man, with only a small farm, re- 
ceived about $3,000 for his crop. 



NATIVE GRAPES. 



The AVoodson grape was first introduced by Tarlton Woodson. It 
originated upon the farm of Dr. Terry, called "Hard Times." In 
Kenrich's JS^eiv American Orchardist, edition 1843, Dr. Norton, near 
Eichmond, is quoted as recommending this graj^e for the manufac- 
ture of sparlding wine. Downing also speaks highly of the Woodson 
grape. It is, perhaps, too late in bearing for the latitudes north of 
Virginia, ripening just before frost. It is an abundant bearer. The 
original vines grafted on the Woodson' farm have never failed to 
bear annually an enormous crop, and to-day the vines are as vigor- 
ous as ever, yearly producing their long, heavy bunches of red 



100 

grapes, without any pruning or cultivation. It is noted among wine- 
makers as tlie best grape for drij wine. 

The Cunningham takes its name from Jacob Cunningham, of 
Prince Edward, upon whose farm it was found growing wild. This 
is, doubtless, the best grape, all points considered, that has been 
sent out from Prince Edward. Like the Woodson, it is here in its 
native soil and climate, and it does better here than any other 
known variety. All that is necessary is to give the vine room to 
xun and trelis; trees, fences, arbors, or whatever bears up the vine, 
will have a load to carry. The vine is very hardy, fruit black, of 
medium size, bunches long, often ten to twelve inches, and weigh- 
ing a quarter of a pound each, juice sweet and vinous. For eating, 
preserving, and making wine, the Cunningham has not been sur- 
passed by any nativ.e or foreign varieties, ripens the last of Septem- 
ber. Like the Woodson, it does not rot or mildew, and bears a 
jheavy crop every year. 

The Davis grape has been propagated from a wild vine found 
many years ago in the woods of Mrs. Martha Davis. The berries are 
about the size of the Catawba — round, very juicy and sweet; season, 
1st October; fruit hangs late on the vine. As an evidence of the 
value of this grape, those who know it prefer it to many of the best 
of the noted varieties. — Prince Edward Hand Book. 



GRAPES. 

As the best means of showing what are the profits of grape cul- 
ture in Albemarle, we give the following statement of Mr. A. L. 
Hollada}^ as to the results upon his vineyard. He is one of the 
most accurate, conscientious and reliable gentlemen we know, and 
all who know him will accept his statement as accurate and correct. 
He says: "In 1878 I got my first crop from two and a half acres. 
The yield was -135.61 per acre. The yield this year was very poor, 
owing to the vines having been planted in tlie wheat, and having 
made a poor growth the first year for lack of work, besides a great 
many of the vines died, so that less than two-thirds were in bearing, 
the replanted ones not being old enough. 

In 1879— 3 acres yielded $ 90 75 per acre. 

1880—4 '' " 113 00 '' " 

1881— 7i " " 23 27 " " 

1882— 9.^- " " 56 26 " " 

1883—11 " " 108 58 '' " 

1884—17 " " ■ 116 28 " " 

1885— 22i " " 101 56 " " 

1886—26 " " 61 56 " " 

1887—28 '' " 51 74 " " 

1888—30 " '' 54 97 " " 

" The small yield of 1881 was due to a severe hail storm, which 
nearly destroyed the crop, and left the wood so cut \vp that the 
next year's crop was also shortened. 

^'This is the yield from fruit sold altogether for wine, with the 



101 

exception of $50 worth of plauts sold one year. In addition to the 
above yields, I made about |1,000 worth of plants, which I did nofe 
sell, but which enabled me to put out my vineyard at much less ex- 
pense. 

''My vineyard is on land that I put at about 125 j^er acre before 
I planted my vineyard. I estimate it has cost me about $75 per 
acre to plant an acre (I raising most of my plants) and to trellis it 
and bring it into bearing. Thus I put my outlay of capital at $100 
per acre. The above yields make an average yield, per acre, of 
$72.54. Deduct from this $15 per acre, which I think is sufficient 
to cover expense of making a crop on an acre, including bone and 
ashes that I have used, but not counting manure, of which I have 
put on but little, there is thus left $57.54 average net profit per 
acre, or 57 2 per cent, profit on the capital invested. 

^ "A. L. HOLLADAY, 

"Eastham, Albemarle county, Va." 

Here is an average net profit of 57 1-2 per cent, on tJie capital in- 
vested, for a period of ten years, during which one crop was nearly 
destroyed by a hail storm, and two other years, 1887 and 1888, were 
years of disaster from mildew and black rot. Now we have a 
specific and certain remedy for both mildew and black rot. It will 
be observed that Mr. Holladay'sland (he estimates) was worth $25 
per acre. This was because of its location and agricultural value. 
Land upon which equally good results can be obtained can be 
bought for much less money — an average, say, of $7 per acre. It 
will be noticed that Mr. Holladay raised and sold the wine grapes. 
Many are of the opinion there is more money in a vineyard which: 
has in it table grapes also. These can be shipped to the IS^orthern: 
markets and sold at a good price, and what is left, after the market 
becomes glutted and it does not pay to shij), can be sold to the wine 
cellars for the manufacture of wine at about the same figure at 
which Mr. H. sold his whole crop. 

Many car loads of table grapes are shipped from this county 
yearly. We have statements from other grape-growers, but have 
selected this one because it is made off in a more accurate form,, 
Mr. H. having kei^t an accurate account with his vineyard, which. 
is a thing but few others have done. 

We interviewed many of our vine-growers several years ago, and. 
their statements then showed a profit of from $60 to $90 per acre. 
Several have asked us not to give their names in connection with 
their statements, but those desiring information can have reference 
to them by applying to us. — Z. T. Btal-ey, in Fruit and Grape 
Grower. 



FIVE CROPS IN ONE YEAR. 

This morning — being Monday — we drove out and found Mr. 
Holmes at home. We cornered him up in the very finest kale patch 
in the whole South, and held him there until he got hungry and 
until he gave in and gave us the required information. He secured 
five crops as follows : 



102 

Sowed spinach in September; cut and sold the same in January- 
following; plowed the land and put in radish in January, which 
crop was cleaned up April 4th. The land was at once plowed and 
sowed to a second crop of radish, thus making the third crop. 
About 10th to 12th April planted cantelouj)e seed at proper inter- 
vals among the growing radish, and for fear of frost covered the 
hills with glass; took off both these crops about 10th August and 
sowed to millet, which came off inside the twelve months, making 
Jive crops in one year from the same piece of land ! 

As to how these five crops paid Mr. H. could not tell, as he keeps 
account with his whole farm, but not with any separate field there- 
of. But one thing he did mention, however, and that was that from 
his 30-acre farm he sold $15,000 worth last year. This, of course, 
was his gross sales. What the profits are he only knows, and he 
won' t tell . — Cornucopia. 



PIGS. 

[For the Journal of Agriculture.] 

In addition to the '' three ways by which the average farmer may 
escape absolute bankruptcy " (vide Vol. I, page 74), I would add 
another: ^' He must raise less corn and tobacco and more fruit." 

Good fruit always commands a ready market at good prices. Let 
me tell a plain story. 

A young man who had $3,000, soon after getting married, bought 
1,000 Bartlett pear trees. His friends laughed at his folly; but in 
a very few years he began to receive a thousand dollars a year for 
his fruit, and then they changed their minds. 

It may be the best thing for farmers, who are distant from railroads 
and other facilities of commerce, to grow corn, raise hogs, etc. ; but 
for those who have ready access to the markets of the world, first- 
class fruit is the profitable crop to grow. 

Allow me to say, in this connection, that I have just laid the 
foundation of a new industry in the Middle and Northern States, 
by showing that that delicious fruit, the fig, can be grown as success- 
fully as at the South. 

Not only can every family have a few trees for home comfort, but 
in the fine soil and climate of Virginia tons of the fruit sold would 
add materially to the prosperity of the people. 

I am thoroughly in earnest in this matter, and will send full in- 
structions how to grow fig trees, how to cure the fruit, etc., to any 
applicant. G- F. Needham. 

Washington, D. C, April, 1879. 

Our correspondent has sent us an interesting paper on the cul- 
tivation of the fig in the Northern and Middle States. In some 
parts of Virginia this excellent fruit will grow without protection 
in winter; in other portions Mr. Needham's plan of treatment and 
protection might be successfully used. — Eds. 



103 

BIG PRODUCT OP VIRGINIA WHEAT FIELDS. 

We have said we can show as large i^roducts per acre as any State, 
and that we would prove it. We furnish just here some of the evi- 
dence : 

LARGE YIELDS OF WHEAT. 

The Staunton Vindicator mentions that Mr. B. B. Smith, of South 
Hiver, has just harvested from an 84-acre field 2,016 bushels of 
wheat — about 21 bushels to the acre; that Mr. James Patrick, on 
one of his fields, had a yield of 27 bushels to the acre; and that Mr. 
Ireneus Coiner, on one of his fields, had a yield of 38 bushels to 
the acre. All of which is magnificent, but surpassed by Albemarle. 
W. J. Ficklin has made a record of 41 bushels to the acre. — Char- 
lottesville Jeffersonian. 



Mr. Edward A. Burks thrashed last week 770 bushels of wheat 
from 31 bushels sowed. Raising wheat pays at such figures. 



Mr. Zack Drummond has thrashed 80 bushels from two bushels 
sowed. Who can beat that ? 



Mr. Samuel Higginbotham, with a yield of 27 bushels of wheat to 
one bushel sowed, in a crop of three hundred and odd bushels, bears 
off the palm in the Forks of Buffalo country. — Whitehead's Demo- 
crat. 



Here are reported from three counties — one the magnificent lime- 
stone county of Augusta — first, 24 bushels to the acre ; second, 27 
bushels; and third, 38 bushels to the acre. Albemarle and Amherst, 
Piedmont counties, with red-clay granitoid lands, come to the front. 
Albemarle 41 bushels per acre; Amherst, one 25 bushels, 10 pounds 
to one sowed, the other 40 bushels to one sowed. If they sowed Ik 
bushels to the acre, which is probable, the yield per acre for the 
first would be 374 bushels per acre and the other GO bushels. There 
have been many years in which in the past the yield was as great as 
those now reported. We recall a crop in Kelson county, on South 
Eockfish, of 40 bushels; one in Bedford, of 42; one in Campbell, of 
35 bushels per acre. 

Col. Knight made in Nottoway county 675 bushels from 7 ^ bush- 
els broadcast, following tobacco, on good land, or 45 bushels to the 
acre. This was in 1842 — Southern Planter. 



TRUCKING. 



From a plot of ground containing one and one-fourth acres of land 
I have sold six thousand two hundred and one dollars worth of pro- 
duce during the five years beginning with 1883 and ending with 
1887 — that it is to say, I have received the above amount from 
Northern markets for produce raised on this one and one-fourth 
acres of land after freight and commission were deducted. 

1883. Threw up this plat in 40-inch beds, three rows spinach on 



104 

eacli bed ten inches apart, and put one row of cabbage in open far- 
row on side of the bed. I cut 364 barrels spinach and 232 barrels 
cabbage, which returned me from Northern markets $1,100. 

1884. Spinach sown flat in 10-inch rows; made 380 barrels; then 
put in cantelopes (melons), which turned off 100 barrels. The spi- 
nach and melons returned me 11,000. 

1885. I raised on this same plat 385 barrels spinach and 100 
boxes beans, which brought me |1,200' 

1886. Planted in lettuce 10 to 14 inches, cut 450 barrels, which 
brought me $1,000. 

1887. Planted spinach again, which brought me $1,336. Then 
set out egg plant, which crop brought me from Northern markets 
$565. 

Thus my sales from this one and one-fourth acres of land, in five 
years time, after deducting freight and commission, has brought me 
$6,201 — my best year being 1887, when I received the sum of $1,901. 
My books show sales for each year, giving day and date of each 
shij)ment, and also giving the price received. 

I make this statement by request of the Board of Supervisors of 
Norfolk county. B. F. Wilson. 



VEGETABLES. 



Mr. W. L. Ballard, of Norfolk county, sends to the Eichmond 
Exposition a sample of fine corn planted July 12th, after potatoes 
had been dug from the same land. The corn is one of the yellow 
varieties and is a fine crop. The potato crop preceding it was 
planted February 28th, and the corn had no manure or fertilizer 
whatever. He also sends samples of Scotch kale as a third crop. 
The first crop was cabbage, set out March 15, cut and marketed 
early in June; second crop, crab grass, cut last of August; third 
croj), Scotch kale. He further sends sample cabbage plants as a 
fifth crop. 

First crop was radishes, sowed January 25th ; second crop, Eng- 
lish peas, sowed February 20th; third crop, cucumbers, planted 
April 10th ; fourth crop, crab grass ; fifth crop, cabbage, as per 
sample. 

In this last case three and four-sevenths acres of land was used, 
from which was grown, matured and sold three crops in one year,, 
viz. : radish, peas and cucumbers. 

The fourth crop — grass, or native hay — was turned under ; and 
the fifth crop, cabbage, is now out on the laud. His returns for the 
three crops sold were as follows from the three and four-sevenths 
acres : 

Cucumbers, $1,361 78 

Eadish, 150 15 

Peas, ------- 187 15 



Total, $1,699 08 

With one crop turned under (grass), and one crop (cabbage) yet to 



105 

hear from. At this rate Peter Henderson was correct when he said, 
"Ten acres is enough. " 

The above statement is made by request of the Board of Su- 
pervisors of Norfolk county. — Cornucopia. 



SOME MORE POTATOES. 

Last year I had 12 acres in potatoes. I dug SO barrels to the 
acre, which netted me |1 per barrel. I then put the same tract of 
land (12 acres) into kale. The second crop of potatoes came up in 
the kale (from seed left in the ground when first crop was dug). I 
let the kale and potatoes both grow together. In the Fall I dug up 
100 barrels of these potatoes and sold the kale from the 12 acres for 
$1,500, making net returns something over -|2, 400 from the 12 acres 
of land in one year. 

This statement is made by request of the Board of Supervisors of 
:N"orfolk countv. Geo. A. Wilson. 



CORN. 

Mr. S. B. Carney, of Norfolk county, sent up a sample of corn for 
exhibition at the Eichmond Exposition that is worthy of notice. It 
is corn grown as a third crop on the same land inside of twelve 
months. 

The first crop was kale, sowed in September, 1887; sold in Febru- 
ary and March, 1888; yield, 200 barrels per acre; sold for f 1.25 per 
barrel. 

The second crop was Irish potatoes, planted in March and dug in 
June; 75 barrels per acre; sold at $3 per barrel. 

The third crop was the corn above noted, planted June 20th, and 
will yield 25 to 30 bushels of shelled corn per acre, worth 00 to 70 
cents per bushel. This shows the productiveness of Norfolk county's 
soil when well handled. 



FRUIT. 

Of the fruit-growing and canning industry in Botetourt county a. 
correspondent of the Lynchburg Virginian gives the following ac- 
count : 

There are 120,000 growing peach trees, of which one-half are 
bearing. There are set out, and to be set out this spring, 50,000 
young trees. One agent, who has had his headquarters at Clover- 
dale, claims that he sold 25, 000. Not all fruit trees are sold to the 
packing men. The general interest in raising fruit has been stimu- 
lated by the success of the packing business and the market which 
it affords. Almost every one that owns land seems to be anxious, 
to raise more fruit. The vicinity of Roanoke City creates also a. 
demand for fruit, in its season, of all kinds. 



106 



HAY. 



Among the many good things sent in for the Eichmond Exposi- 
tion was a sample bale of K^orfolk hay grown by Mr. A. H. Lindsey 
on his farm near Deep Creek. Mr. Lindsey raises annually about 
300 tons of good timothy hay, and is constantly enlarging his area 
in hay. Besides this he raised this year nearly 15,000 barrels of 
potatoes, and has a fine crop of corn, samples of w^hich he also sent 
down to exhibit. He has a fine body of land and is putting it to 
good use. He does but little trucking, but confines himself mostly 
to the staple crops — corn, hay, potatoes, etc., although he now and 
then raises a fine crop of kale — a crop that he succeeds in growing 
to perfection at a much less expense than the regular trucker, as his 
land is rich and strong and requires but little commercial fertilizer 
to make fine crops. One can most always see fine crops growing on 
the farm of Mr. A. H. Lindsey. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



The Country Gentleman says : ^ 'Are our wheat soils running out ? 
"What may we look for fifty years hence f Sheep and turnip hus- 
bandry, carried on as near to the system pursued in England and 
Scotland as the climate in the United States will permit, would res- 
cue the soil from the exhaustion existing ; but even this escape is 
rejected, and the dogs are allowed to be a bar to any recovery of 
fertility by such means, and Southern men in the cotton States per- 
sist in growing cotton without profit, and buying fertilizers, when 
the Commissioner of Agriculture in Georgia collected evidence that 
in 1873, while cotton paid nothing, wool gave a clear gain of 63 per 
cent, on the capital employed, after an average loss of 15 per cent. 
l)y the killing of sheep by dogs. The Southern States could all 
grow crops which would fatten sheep by feeding them on the land 
in the open air without shelter ; and whenever a good fair trial of 
English sheep husbandry is made down South, some cute mind will 
invent means of shelter which will give the Xorth a chance to follow 
suit." 



SPINACH. 



In 1888, B. W. Holmes sent to Boston by boat from Norfolk one 
day one wagon load of spinach, making sixty-five barrels, which he 
sold at $5 per barrel, making one load $325. 00. He sold some at 
other times as high as $8 per barrel. About 150 barrels can be 
raised i^er acre on the best trucking lands in Norfolk County. 



SOCIAL STATISTICS. 



EDUCATIONAL.. 



Virginia has an admirable Public School System which is working 
well, doing good service, giving satisfaction to both white and col- 
ored people. For the year 1887, $1,535,289.11 were applied to pub- 
lic schools, which was an increase over preceding years. 

The following summaries exhibit substantially the condition of 
the public free school system of Virginia for the year ending July 
31st, 1888: 

Total population, according to census of 1880.. j ^Q^ed 63l'616 

Total 1,512,474 

SCHOOL POPULATIOK^. 

(Between Five and Twenty-one Years of Age.) 

White 345,024 

Colored 265,347 



Total 610,371 

SCHOOLS, 
dumber opened: 

White 5,154 

Colored 2,115 

7,269 



NUMBER OF GRADED SCHOOLS. 

(included in number reported above.) 

White. 380 

Colored 127 

507 



PUPILS. 
Number enrolled: 

White 211,449 

Colored 118,831 

330,280 



108 

Number in average daily attendance: • 

White 124,974 

Colored 64,422 

189,416 

I^umber studying the higher branches: 

White, 10,236 

Colored 1,721 

11,957 

TEACHEES. 
ISTumber of 

White 5,373 

Colored 1,909 

Grand total 7,282 

Average monthly salaries: 

Males 131 00 

Females 26 40 

JSTumber of school houses 6,205 

White and colored children are taught in separate schools, whea 
they can be gotten, where competent colored teachers have charge 
of colored schools, and there is no bad feeling between the races, 
harmony everywhere prevails. A large number of Peabody Nor- 
mal Institutes are yearly conducted. 

The State has a large Normal and Collegiate Institute, for colored 
people at Petersburg, and a white Female Normal Institute at Farm- 
ville, and it aids the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, the 
Yirginia Military Institute at Lexington, and the Virginia Agricul- 
tural and Mechanical College at Blacksburg, at which is the United 
State Experiment Station. The Miller Manual Labor School, for the 
education of the children of Albemarle county, is a splendid and suc- 
cessful institution. Washington and Lee University at Lexington, 
Eandolph-Macon College at Ashland, Hampden-Sidney College near 
Farmville, Emory and Henry College in Washington county, Eoa- 
noke College at Salem, Eichmond College at Eichmond, Hampton 
Normal College for colored, at Hampton, William and Mary Col- 
lege at Williamsburg, and many other lesser institutes for boys and 
girls, give to the State the amplest opportunity for the education of 
its children, white and colored, in such a manner and on such terms 
as none need be without a good education. 



ASYLUMS. 



Virginia offers for the insane three asylums for white and one 
for colored patients, all large, well officered and successful. One 
large and successful asylum for the deaf and dumb and blind, and 



109 

a large number of Eetreats, Hospitals, Infirmaries, &c. , for the af- 
flicted, where all are well cared for; and these and many other char- 
itable institutions, in addition to the provision made by law for the 
care and support of the poor, which in most counties, and nearly 
all cities, is an honor to the humane and kindly character of the 
officials and people. 



RELIGIOUS. 



Every denomination of Christians, together with a considerable 
population of Hebrews, is represented in Virginia by congregations 
with ministers and houses of worship, and under the admirable law 
of religious liberty, drafted by Thos. Jefferson, and followed out 
and re-enacted by every succeeding legislature, she has had religious 
peace and prosperity among white and colored people and congre- 
gations in all|her borders. The land is literally dotted with churches 
and meeting houses, and the Sabbath in Virginia retains its old time 
prominence, and its old time habits and observance. The whole 
social system of Virginia, will compare favorable with that of any 
^tate in the Union. 



IMMIGRATION. 



Commonwealth of Virginia, 
Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Immigration, 
Richmond, Va., November 23d, 1888. 

At the annual meeting of the State Board of Agriculture, on the 
31st October, 1888, the Committee on Immigration made the fol- 
lowing report: 

report. 

Your committee, to whom was recommitted the report on Immi- 
gration and Labor, and the resolutions accompanying the same, beg 
leave to make the following report: 

That they do recommend the employment of an immigration 
agent, to be nominated by your President, and approved by the 
Board, at a salary not to exceed fifteen hundred dollars per annum 
and necessary expenses. 

His term of service shall be at the pleasure of the Board, His 
duties shall be the dissemination of such information concerning 
the advantages and resources of our State as shall be approved of 
by this Board and the Commissioner of Agriculture. To visit such 
sections of our country as offer desirable elements of population 
with a view to securing their immigration to our State. And to 
perform such other duties as may be required of him by the Board 
and the Commissioner of Agriculture. 

It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Agriculture to secure^ 
by public meetings or otherwise, an expression from the several 
counties and parts of counties as to the kind of immigrants most 
desired by them, and such as would be most likely to succeed in 
such localities, and when it becomes necessary, in the promotion of 
this object, to visit the various sections of Virginia as far as prac- 
ticable, that his expenses be paid, and that he also appeal, through 
the public press and otherwise, to the various sections and com- 
munities of this State to communicate with him and furnish him 
their views and wishes on the subject of immigration, and that each 
county and locality shall proceed at once to organize themselves in 
such manner as shall enable them to communicate their needs and 
requirements, and any other information they may wish to furnish. 



Ill 

the Commissioner of Agriculture for the promotion of the interests 
of their respective counties and localities. 

In furtherance of these great ends, we would respectfully suggest 
that it might be proper, in order to secure jjrompt action, that the 
supervisors ( as they are an organized body) should, with great pro- 
priety and in the interest of their people, take a leading part in se- 
curing the objects indicated above, and also to make an api^ropria- 
tion sufficient for and necessary to defray the expenses incurred in 
securing this action; and without intending in any way to interfere 
with the rights and duties of the supervisors, we would respectfully 
urge the supervisors from the several counties to take hold of this 
subject in earnest, and to act at once. We would further suggest 
that they appoint some one who would prepare, and forward with 
as little delay as possible, to the Commissioner of Agriculture, all 
the information in respect to their county they can, as to the kind 
of crops grown, the quality and prices of land, and the quantity and 
character of that which is for sale, number of churches and schools, 
local taxes, facilities for transportation, population, and square 
miles, and any other information that may be deemed necessary to 
persons seeking new homes. This should be done in as compact a 
form as possible to impart the information. 

It is with some hesitation that your committee recommend this 
expenditure of this money, and nothing but the great importance 
of the subject has induced them to do it, with the hope that the 
next Legislature will make such additional appropriation as will 
meet the requirements of the Board in making effective and useful 
their work, and they can but express a regret that the law does not 
authorize them to use the 16,440 which they have turned in the 
treasury within the past ten months. 

W. T. SuTHEELiN, Chairnuin. 
S. Wellfoed Corbix, 
Hexey L. Lyman. 

The Board unanimously adopted the report, and now, for the 
purpose of inaugurating this movement, the following circular is 
issued for the information and instruction of all whom it may con- 
cern. Hon. Charles Grattan, judge of the Hustings Court of the 
city of Staunton, has been secured as the agent of this department, 
to visit the Northern section of our Union and welcome and invite 
all worthy peoi^le who are looking to a change of residence, to settle 
in and become citizens of Virginia. 

Virginia needs population — it heeds more good men, women and 
children. It has thousands of acres of broad, fertile, unoccupied 
lands awaiting the tiller's toil; it has thousands of acres of timber 
awaiting the woodman's axe, and thousands of veins of most valu- 
able ores and coal, only awaiting capital. It has the finest climate 
on the Continent; is absolutely free from the extremes of heat and 
cold, from blizzard or cyclone, severe drought or great floods, from 
pestilence or famine. From many sorrowful causes, not from 
necessity, many of its people have gone away in the past, and now 
the great duty of the hour is to retain all our people and secure an 
addition of good, moral, industrious citizens from other States and 



112 

countries to purchase and settle on the vincultivated lauds of the 
State — to relieve the owners of the burden of uncultivated, unpro- 
ductive fields and foi-ests; give them capital to improve the lauds 
retained, and increase their stock and add to the body of intelligent, 
educated, property-holding, tax-paying citizens of the State. To 
aid in this great work, Judge Grattan goes among our brethren of 
the overcrowded sections of the North and Northwest, to make for 
us a full, fair and candid representation of our State, its people, its 
agricultural and mineral resources, its transportation facilities, its 
social, educational and religious advantages, etc. Judge Grattan 
has the entire confidence of our peoi)le and of the Board of Agricul- 
ture. His character for all that constitutes the intelligent, edu- 
cated, well-informed, upright Virginia gentleman, is well known in 
the State, and endorsed by this Board of Agriculture, and it be- 
speaks for him in our sister States and among our agricultural 
brethren such a reception and hearing as should be accorded to 
such a fraternal messenger, coming with a welcome to all who will 
visit the Old Dominion. Our agent, Judge Grattan, will be able to 
•explain more fully than could be put in print, the specific advan- 
tages of the different sections of this great State, and by statistics 
and direct evidence to satisfy all who are seeking desirable homes. 
All the lands of Virginia, from the splendid blue-grass sods in the 
Valley of the Shenandoah and Southwest, and her magnificent or- 
chards and yellow tobacco fields of Piedmont, to her cotton and 
peanut fields on her Southern border, round by her oyster bays aud 
fishing shores and up her great rivers, are cheap, low-j^riced, com- 
pared with the lauds of any other State in the Union. Her rich 
mines of all valuable ores and minerals are cheaper than in any other 
State. Her magnificent woods and timber can be bought for less 
money than elsewhere. Opportunities for the investment of capital 
in all manufacturing industries are abundant, and the advantages 
for their prosecution are superior to most States. The largest farms, 
valuable ranches for the raising of horses, cattle and sheep, can be 
secured at low rates, while thousands of acres, most valuable for the 
production of early vegetables, trucking, fruit, berries, melons, etc., 
are for sale. With hundreds of miles of oyster and fishing shores 
and navigable rivers and creeks, it is difficult to find on the globe a 
better, more pleasant, or more profitable place for the habitatioi],,of 
man. ,,^ 

In some of the counties of the State there is an opening for gOod, 
steady, reliable white farm labor. This is to some extent true in 
most counties wheie tobacco, cotton and trucks are the main crops. 
It is true that wages are not high, but living is cheap, and there is 
an opening for such laborers to purchase land and secure homes for 
a, small part of their wages. This will be apparent when it is known 
that arable laud producing tobacco, cotton, grain, clover and veg- 
etables, with abundance of timber for building and fencing, has 
been sold for from $1 to f .3 per acre, and when a reputable, steady, 
industrious man could buy from the mau for whom he worked, 
and could frequently work out the purchase money, no country in 
the world offers such opportunities for industrious poor men as many 



113 

sections of Virginia. In Tide- water Virginia the rivers are filled 
with the best fish and oysters, and covered with fowl, and districts 
are covered with wood finding ready sale on the bank. This is the 
Paradise for a poor man — even a lazy man — for he can live well 
with less labor than anywhere else in the United States. There is a 
great opening in Virginia for mechanics whose trades are connected 
with agricultnre. Carpenters, brick and stone masons, shoe makers, 
blacksmiths, tinners, etc., who can bny a home (small farm) near a 
village or in a thickly settled section, can do well by joining farming 
with work in the shop, as their trade will always secnre labor on 
their farm with the advantage to them. The opening for the profit- 
able pnrsuits of the smaller industries in conjunction with a farm- 
home is greater in Virginia than almost any other State. 

With these physical advantages we have low taxes, good local 
government, quiet population, good schools and numerous churches; 
and to all who come to take part with us in building up the Old 
Dominion we extend a cordial welcome, and guarantee of a kind 
reception, and this department will feel itself bound to give to all 
such settlers all the assistance possible in reaching and securing 
homes among our people. Thomas Whitehead, 

ComW of Agriculture. 



INSTRUCTIONS TO AGENTS. 

Commonwealth of Virginia, 
Department of Agriculture, 
EiCHMOND, Va., April 1, 1889. 

Bear Sir — In your dealings and transactions with immigrants 
seeking homes in Virginia and desiring to buy lands in your county, 
you are urged to follow strictly the following injunctions : 

First. Be plain, frank and candid in all the representations you 
make of soil, climate, &c. 

Second. Eefuse to register lands at exorbitant prices, and always 
tell the buyer what is the fair market value of the place. 

Third. Caution buyers not to rely on paying for farms by the 
o^ >ps made, and advise no man to buy unless he has cash, or means 
ay for the place outside the crops on it, unless he has capital to 
work a large force and has rich land. 

Fourth. Make accurate statements in full about the health, and 
require seller to secure title, and explain it. 

Great particularity and caution are necessary in this matter, as 
there are a number of cases, reported North and West, of decep- 
tion practiced on immigrants by real estate agents, which have 
done the State much damage ; and it is but true that many have 
gone back with a bad account, and many have been sold land at 
exorbitant prices, and some have been sold out for balance of pur- 
chase money. 

Try and secure the confidence of every immigrant we send you, 



114 

and endeavor to secui-e bim as good a home as liis moue}^ will buy. 
We must repair the damage ah-eady done in this matter. 

Eespectfully, 

Thomas Whitehead, 
Commissioner of Agriculture. 



LIST OP COUNTY AGENTS OF THE DEPARTMENT. 
COUNTIES. AGENTS. POST-OFFICES. 

Accomac. Spencer D. Fetcher. . . . Jenkin' s Bridge. 

Albemarle Z. J. Blakey Charlottesville. 

Alexandria Jas. E. Clements Arlington. 

Alleghany J. J. Hobbs Covington, 

Amelia P. J. Berkeley Amelia Courthouse. 

Amherst Edgar Whitehead ... Amherst Courthouse. 

Appomattox... E. B. Poore Appomattox C. H. 

Augusta Rev. Samuel Driver... New Hope. 

Bath John W. Stevenson... Warm Springs. 

Bedford B. Kenna Campbell -.Libert3^ 

Bland Martin AVilliams Bland Courthouse. 

Botetourt A. A. Woodson — Fincastle. 

Brunswick Benj . Lewis Lawrenceville. 

Buchanan.... John M. Ratliffe Grundy. 

Buckingham A. J. Bondurant.. Mt. Yinco, 

Campbell Samuel H. Miller Rustburg. 

Caroline ...W. J. Anderson Bowling Green. 

Carroll D. W. Bolen Hillsville. 

Charlotte J. W. Morton Keysville. 

Charles City Thos. Wilcox Wilcox Wharf. 

Chesterfield John S. Taylor Chesterfield C. H. 

Clarke Daniel C. Snyder Berry ville. 

Craig Chas. F. Hawkins Newcastle. 

Culpeper A. G. Hudgius Culpeper. 

Cumberland W. R. England Cartersville. 

Dickinson E. L. Counts Ervinton. 

Dinwiddle J. C. Duane Goodwynsville. 

Elizabeth City E. A. Semple Hampton. 

Essex. Aubrey H. Jones Tappahannock. 

Fairfax Jas. B. Machen Centreville. 

Fauquier . . . E. H. Do wnman Warrenton. 

Floyd Z. T. Dobyns Floyd Courthouse. 

Fluvanna J. O. Shepherd Palmyra. 

Franklin P. D. Divers Eocky Mount. 

Frederick John M. Long Stephens City. 

Grayson S. M. Dickey Independence. 

Giles D. W. Mason Pearisburg. 

Gloucester L. C. Catlett Gloucester Courthouse 

Goochland Wm. Miller... ...Goochland Courthouse 

Greene Z. P. Page Stanardsville. 



115 

LIST OF COUN^TY AGEN^TS— Conti.\ued. 

Greeuesville L. D. Yarrell Emporia. 

Halifax... S. C, Perrow Halifax Courtlioiise. 

Hanover J. A. Brown.. — Hanover Courthouse. 

Henrico John C. Fowler Eichmond. 

Henry H. G. Peters Martinsville. 

Highland J. B Bradshaw McDowell. 

Isle of Wight W. S. Holland Windsor. 

James City W. H. E. Morecock... Williamsburg. 

King and Queen Wm. F. Bagby Stevensville. 

King George G. W. Grigsby Comorn. 

King William J. W. Taylor Aylett's. 

Lancaster R. M. Saunders Lancaster Courthouse. 

Lee J. P. Graham Jonesville. 

Loudoun B. W. Haxall Middleburg. 

Louisa J. W. Porter Louisa Coui'thouse. 

Lunenburg Geo. C. Orgain Lunenburg Courthouse 

Madison F. H. Hill Madison Courthouse. 

Mathews G. F. Garnett Mathews Courthouse. 

Montgomery I^. E, Stanger • Blacksburg. 

Mecklenburg Henry Van Devanter... Chase City. 

Middlesex E. T. Bland Saluda. 

Nausemond S. T. Ellis Suffolk. 

IS'elson J. E. Peebles Lovingston. 

!N"ew Kent Wm. E. Cottrell Providence Forge. 

IN^orfolk S. B. Carney Box 56, Norfolk. 

Northampton W. B. Wilson Bay View. 

Northumberland J. C. Betts Heathsville. 

Nottoway ...H. A. Wilbourne Crewe. 

Orange P. J. Fulcher Gordonsville. 

Page . Mann Spitler, Lurav. 

Patrick P. Bouldiu. Stuart. 

Pittsylvania W. J. Dance Danville. 

Pulaski L. S. Calfee Pulaski City. 

Powhatan John B. Cocke Eock Castle. 

Princess Anne Wm. G. Whitehurst... Princess Anne C. H. 

Prince George Mann Page Brandon. 

Prince Edward. A. E. Venable Farmville. 

Prince William Jos. B. Eeed Brentsville. 

Eappahannoek H. G. Moffett Washington. 

Eichmond.. E. C. Welford Warsaw. 

Eussell J. A. Smith Belfast Mills. 

Eockingham F. A. Daingerfield Harrisonburg. 

Eockbridge John T. McKee Green Forest. 

Eoanoke Wm. McCurdy Salem. 

Scott J. B. Eichmond Estillville. 

Shenandoah I. H. Bird Woodstock. 

Smyth Geo. W. Eichardson... Marion. 

Southampton John J. Dyer Handsom' s Depot. 

Spotsylvania John E. Alrich Alrich' s Crossing. 



116 

LIST OF COUNTY AGENTS— Continued. 

Stafford Hugh Adie Garrisonville. 

Surry.. A. C. Garrett Surry Courthouse. 

Sussex J. D. Owen Sussex Courthouse. 

Tazewell E. B. Henry Tazewell Courthouse. 

Warren Smith Turner Front Royal. 

Warwick Dr. John Crafford .... Lee Hall. 

Washington F. S. Findley Abingdon. 

Westmoreland Thos. Brown Hague. 

Wise C. F. Flannery Wise Courthouse. 

Wythe R. K Pendleton... Wytheville. 

York C. Wade Yorktown. 



EXPLANATION. 



As the Editor of this Book, under the order of the State 
Board of Agriculture, it is proper to state, that it is more 
a compilation of the writings of others heretofore published in 
pamphlets and newspapers, than the original work of the editor. 
The Hand-book of Virginia heretofore published under law, by 
the Commissioners of Agriculture, reached the 5th edition, which 
was ably edited by my j)i"edecessor. Col. Eandolph Harrison, and 
which has occupied an important position in attracting attention 
to Virginia. That edition was exhausted last winter in the extra- 
ordinary demand for literature descriptive of Virginia, and it was 
deemed wise by the Board to have prepared by the Commissioner, a 
book more particularly suited to those seeking homes in the State. 
In preparing this work, I have had the valuable aid of the rail- 
roads of the State, and public spirited citizens of many counties. 
Especially am I indebted to the Norfolk and Western road for two 
publications, setting forth the agricultural, mineral and forest wealth 
along its line, much of which was published by that able ally and 
friend of the South in its development, "The Manufacturers 
Eecord of Baltimore. ' ' Also to the Shenandoah Valley Eailroad, 
for the use of a handsome illustrated pamj)hlet with very accurate 
and elegant descriptions of the great natural curiosities of the State — 
the Luray Caverns, l^atural Bridge, and Crab Tree Cataract; also to 
the Portsmouth Sketch Book for a history and description of the 
Dismal Swamp. I am also indebted to Col. Harrison's Hand-book 
for large extracts in regard to the geological and geographical de- 
scriptions of the State, and many special statements in regard to 
minerals and timber, using again, as I have, the valuable article of 
Gen. J. D. Imboden, on the mineral resources of Virginia. 

Trusting that this work carried out in haste and amid constant 
distracting business, may be the means of inducing good citizens of 
other States to make their homes with- us, and invest their capital 
in the development of our rich mines and great forests, it is sub- 
mitted to the public to show Virginia as she really is. 

Thomas Whitehead, 
Commissioner of Agriculture, 



IMMIORANTS 



\vou.ld. do w^ell to consult the 



KOIvLOWINQ IMAPS and RAILROAD 



DIRKCTIONS, 



also to constj.lt ttie 



Agents of th-e Different Lines. 



Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co- 



From Old Point Comfort and Newport News, Va., 
to Cincinnati, Ohio, 

WITH CLOSE CONNECTIONS WEST AND NORTHWEST. 



It connects with or crosses the following Eoads through Virginia : 

At Eichmond, with Eichmond and Alleghany. Eichmond and Pe- 
tersburg, Eichmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac, Eichmond 
£tnd Danville, and York Eiver. 

At Hanover Junction crosses Eichmond, Fredericksburg and Poto- 
mac Eailroad. 

At Gordonsville, with Orange Branch of Virginia Midland. 

At Charlottesville, crosses Virginia Midland Eailroad. 

At Waynesboro, crosses Shenandoah Valley Eailroad. 

At Staunton, crosses Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad. 

At Clifton Forge, connects with Eichmond and Alleghany Eailroad. 



rOE INPORMATIOII OP EATES, EOUTE, &c., TO VIEGINIA, 
Apply to any of the following : 

C. E. Bishop, East. Pass. Agt., C. «& O. Ey. Co., 362 Broadway, 
Xew York City. 

C. E. Bishop, East. Pass. Agt., C. & O. Ey. Co., 513 Pennsylvania 

Avenue, Washington City. 

D. E. Holmes, P. & T. Agt., C. & O. Ey. Co. cor. Fifth and Wal- 

nut Streets, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
W. H. Geeegoe, Traveling Pass. Agent, C. & O. Ey. Co., cor. Fifth 
and Walnut Streets, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

E. B. Pope, Traveling Pass. Agt., C. & O. Ey. Co., 101 N. Fourth 

Street, St. Louis, Mo. 
Ticket Agent C. I. St. L. & C. Ey., 121 Eandolph St., Chicago. 
^' Monon Eoute, 71 Clark Street, Chicago. 

C. H. & D. E. E., Detroit, Mich. 
'' C. H. & D. E. E., Toledo, Ohio. 

J. J. Archer, Scioto Valley Ev., Columbus, Ohio. 
C. BuETENBACK, Ticket Agent, X. N. & M. V. Co., 253 Fourth 
Street, Louisville, Kv. 
Or to " H. W. PULLER, 

General Pass. Agt., Cincinnati, Ohio. 

For routes and connections in Virginia, apply to JOHIS" D. 
POTTS, Division Pass. Agent, Eichmond. 



PIEDMONT AIR LINE 



EICHMOKD & DANVILLE R. R. SYSTEM. 

MILEAGE. 

Richmond and Danville Division : 610 

Virginia Midland Division , 355 

Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Division oS6 

South Carolina Division 393 

Columbia and Greenville Division 298 

Western North Carolina Division 360 

Washington and Ohio Division 50 



Total miles 2,452 

— oji^oXniza^xioix. 

GEO. S SCOTT, President, New York. 

T. M. E. TALCOTT, Vice-President, Richmond, Va. 

PEYTON RANDOLPH, Gen'l Manager, Washington, D. C. 

W. H. GREEN, General Superintendent, Washington D. 0. 

SOL. HAAS. Traffic Manager, Richmond, Va. 

JAS. L. TAYLOR, Gen'l Passenger Agent, 1300 Penn. Ave,, Washington. D. C, 
J. S. POTT"^, Division Passenger Agent, Richmond, Va. 

C. M. BORUM, Division Passenger Agent, Alexandria, Va. 

W. A. TURK, Division Passenger Agent, Raleigh N. 0. 

D. CARDWELL, Division Passenger Agent, Columbia, S. C. 

L. L. McCLESKEY, Division Passenger Agent. Atlanta, Ga. 

W. A. WINBURN, Acting Division Passenger Agent, Asheville. N. C. 

Jas. H. HILL General Baggage Agent, Richmond, Va. 

H. P. CLARK, Gen'l Eastern Passenger Agent, 229 Broadway, New York. 

G. M. HUNTINGTON, Eastern Passenger Agent, 229 Broadway, New York. 

WALDO A. PEARCE, Agent, 228 Washington St., Boston. 

B. M. HANSOM. New England, Pass'r Ag't,.228 Washington St., Boston, Mass. 

F. B. PRICE. Passenger Agent, 33 South 5th St., Philadelphia. 

G. R. NEEDHAM, Passenger Agent, 233 East German St . Baltimore. 

L. S. BROWN, District Passenger Agent 1300 Penn. Ave., Washington, D. C 

C. W. HARWOOD, Soliciting Agent, Richmond, Va. 

COlVIVEOTIOrSS 

At Alexandria, with Alexandria & Fredericksburg, R. R„ Virginia Mid- 
land, and Washington & Ohio Divisions, and Potomac River steamers. 

At Burkeville, with Norfolk & Western R. R. 

At Calverton. for Warrenton and Fauquier White Sulphur Springs. 

At Charlottesville, with Chesapeake & Ohio Route. 

At Clarkesville, for Oxford and Henderson 

At Danville, with Richmond & Danville Division. 

At Danville, with Va. Midland Division and Danville & New River R. R. 

At Front Royal, with Shenandoah Val'ey R R 

At Gordonsville, with Chesapeake & Ohio R R. 

At Keysville, with Richmond & Mecklenburg R. R. 

At Leesburg. with stages for Middleburg. 

At Lynchburg, with Norfolk & Western, and Richmond & Alleghany, R. R. 

At Manassas, with Manassas Branch, for Strasburg. 

At Orange, with Gordonsville Branch, and Potomac. Fredericksburg & Pied- 
mont R R. 

At Richmond, with lines diverging ; also Old Dominion Steamship Co. 

At Riverton. with Shenandoah Valley R. R. 

At Round Hill, with stages for Berry ville and Winchester. 

At Strasburg, with Baltimore & Ohio R. R. 

At Sutherlin, with Milton & S.utherlin R. R, 

At Vienna, with dailj^ stage for Fairfax Court House. 

At Washington, with Pennsylvania R. R. and Baltimore & Ohio R. R. 

At West Point, with Steamers on Chesapeake Bay, for Baltimore. 



Norfolk & Western R. R. Company. 

CONNECTIONS— Rail and Steamship. 

Norfolk— Old DominTon S. S. Co.. N. Y., P & N. R. R., Bay Line, Merchant's 
& Miners' S. S. Line, Virginia Beach, R. R., Noi-folij Southern R. R. 

Suffolk— Seaboard & Roanoke R. H. 

Waverly— Atlantic & Danville R. R. 

Petersburg — Atlantic Coast Line (R. & P. and P. R. Rds.),Citv Point Branch 
N. & W. R. R 

Burkeville— Richmond & Danville R. R. 

Lynchburg -Virginia Midland R R. and Richmond «& Alleghany Railroad. 

Roanoke- Shenandoah Vallev R R. 

Radford-New River Branch "N. & W. R. R. 

Graham— Clinch Valley Division X. & W. R. R. (now building). 

Bluestone Jc- Bluestone Extension (N. ct W. R. R.) Mill Creek, Simmons 
Creek, and Flipping Creek Branches. 

Pulaski — Cripple Creek Plxtension N. & W. R. R. 

Bristol — East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Ry. , South, Atlantic & Ohio R. R. 



'For Through Tickets, Time Tables, Sleeping Car Reservations, Tourists' 
Guide Books, and general information, apply to or address by mail any of the 
following oflfices : 

Boston, No. 3 Old State House. G. P. Gaither, New England Agent, 290 
Washington St. J. H McCsrmack, Travelling Agent. 

Also at Railroad Ticket Offices at Providence, Worcester, Springfield, Hart- 
ford. New Haven. Bridgeport, Stamford, etc. 

New York, at No. 1 Astor House; Office of Line, 303 Broadway. S. H. 
Hardwick, General Eastern Passenger Agent. James E. Prixdle, Pas- 
senger Agent. 

Brooklyn, at No 4 Court St , and Office of Brooklyn Annex, foot Fulton St. 

Jersey City, at Penn. R. R. Depot Ticket Office; also at Passenger Station 
Ticket Offices Penn. R. R., at Newark, Elizabeth, Rahway, New Bruns- 
wick and Tren*on, N. J. 

Philadelphia, at Nos. 838, 833 and 1348 Chestnut St., and Broad St. Depot; 
also at R. R. Ticket Offices Penn. R. ti., at Germantown, Pa., Chester, Pa., 
Wilmington. Del. 

Harrisburg, at Ticket Office of Cumberland Valley R. R.; also Ticket Offices 
Northern Central R. R., Williamsport, Elmira, Canandaigua, etc. 

Pittsburgh, at Penn. Railroad Ticket Office. 

Baltimore, Office of Line, 129 East Baltimore St. Kennon Jones, Agent. 

Washington, E. J. LocKwoon, District Passenger Agent, 1433 Penn'a Ave. 

Hagerstown, Md., at Depot Shenandoah Valley Railroad. C. M. Fltterer, 
Passenger Agent. 

W. B. Powell, T. A., L. N. A. & C. R. R., Chicago, 111. 

D. R DoNOUGii, T. A.. C. H. & D. R. R., Indianapolis, Ind. 

Geo. Ream, T. A., J. M. & I. R. R., Indianapolis, Ind. 

Wm. Brown, T. A., C. N. O. & T. P. Rwy., Cincinnati, O. 

H. W. Brown, T. A., L. & N. R. R., Cincinnati, 0. 

H. LiHou, T. A., L. & N. R. R., St. Louis, Mo. 

H, D. Leek T. A., 0. & M. R. R., St. Louis, Mo. 

W. W. Knox, T. A.. N. C & St. L. R. R., Nashville, Tenn. 

N. J. Neer, T. a , O. & M. R. R.. Springfield. 111. 

Jno. Thomas T. A., Wabash Western R.^R., Detroit, Mich. 

S. H. Waring, T. A., C. H. & D. R. R., Toledo, O. 

John Moores, Pass. Agent, AVooster, Ohio. 

CHAS. G. EDDY, ALLEN HULL, W. B. BEVILL, 

Vice-President. Travelling Pass. Agt. Gen. Pass. Agt. 

aEKERAL orricES, ROAiroKx:. va. 



SHENANDOAH VALLEY RAILROAD. 

Caverns of Luray, Natural Bridge 

And the GROTTOES OF THE SHENANDOAH. 

Por Time of Tlirougli Connections, see Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee Air- 
Line Folders, "Shenandoah. Valley Route," -which can bj had upon appli 
cation to Ticket Agents, or to C. M. FUTTERER, Pass. Agt., Hag'erstown 
Md., or— 

Boston, No. 3 Old State House; 205, 2 1. 214, 232 290 and 322 Washington 
St.; and at the Depots of the New York Lines. C. P. Gatther, New JEng- 
land Ajient, 290 Washington St. J H. McCormack, Travelling Agent. 

Also at Railroad Ticket Offices at Providence, Worcester, Springfield, Hart- 
ford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford, etc. 

New York, at No. 1 Astor House; No 8 Battery Place; 415, 435, 849 and 
944 Broadway; 134 East 125th St , Depots foot of Desbrosses and Court- 
landt Sts., and Office of Line, 803 Broadway. L. J. Ellis General Eastern 
Passenger Agent. James E. Privdle, New York Passenger Agent. 

Brooklyn, at No. 4 Court St , and Office of Brooklyn Annex, foot Fulton St. 

Jersey City, at Penn. R R Depot Ticket Office; also at Passenger Station 
Ticket Offices Penn R. R., at Newark, Elizabeth, Rahway, New Bruns- 
wick and Trenton, N. J. 

Philadelphia, at Nos 838, 833 and 1348 Chestnut St., and Broad Street De- 
pot ; also at R R Ticket Offices Penn. R. R , at Germantown, Pa., Ches- 
ter, Pa , Wilmington, Del. 

Harrisburg, at Ticket Office of Cumberland Valley R R.; also Ticket Offices 
Northern Central R R., Williamsport. Elmira, Canandaigua, etc. 

Pittsburgh, at Penn. Railroad Ticket Office. 

Baltimore, at Ticket Offices B. & P. and B. & O., Western Maryland R. R., 
217 East Baltimore St., at Depot Western Maryland R. R., and Office of 
Line, 129 East Baltimore St. Kinnox Joxe.s, Agent. 

Washington, at B & 0. Offices. E. J Lockwood, District Passenger Agt., 
1433 Penn'a Ave. 

Hagerstown, Md,, at Depot Shenandoah Valley Railroad. C. M. Futterer, 
Passenger Agent. 

At Hagerstown, Md , with the Western Maryland Railroad to and from 
Baltimore, Frederick, Emmittsburg. Gettysburg, Pen Mar, Waynesboro, Pa., 
and points on the Western Maryland Railroad and Branches 

With the Cumberland Valley Railroad to and from Harrisburg, Carlisle, 
Gettysburg, Shippensburg, Chambersburg, Mercersburg, Martinsburg, and 
points on the Cumberland Valley Railroad and branches. 

Also to and from Pittsburg and the West and Northwest, and from Boston, 
New York, Philadelphia, and from the North and East. 

At Shenandoah Junction, W. Va., with Main Line of Baltimore & Ohio 
Eailroad to Washington and to and from the West. 

At Riverton. Va., with Manassas Branch of Virginia Midland Railway. 

At Waynesboro Junction, Va., with Chesapeake & Ohio Railway to 
and from Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs, and Richmond, Va., and all 
points East and West. 

At Lioch Laird, with Lexington Branch of Richmond and Alleghany 
Eailroad 

At Natural Bridge, with Main Line of Richmond & Alleghany Railroad. 

At Roanoke, with Norfolk &, Western Railroad. 

ST^f^G-B coasn^BCTioisis. 
At Riverside, for Lexington, Va 

At Boyce, for Millwood and Winchester, Va. 

D. W. PLICKWIR, O. HOWARD ROYER, 

Superhitemlent. God, Pas>ir. ct Ticket Agt. 

^BIVSRAL OmCES, ROAnOKZ!, VA. 



Richmond, Fredericksburg 

— AND— 

Potomac Railroad. 



THROUGH ALL RAIL PASSENGER AND FREIGHT LINE 



BETWEEN 



Richmond, Va., and Northern & Western Cities. 



Thronili Tlciets on Sale at all Princiiial Tlctet Offices. 



Fast Freight Connections 

AND 

Through Bills of Lading 

FROM THE I^ORTH AND EAST VIA 

PENNSYLVANIA AIR LINE, 

AND FROM THE WEST VIA 

STAR UNION and EMPIRE LINES. 



General Ticket and Freight Agent. 



New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk 



TtJLTTj'HjCDJ^JD. 



CAPE CHARLES ROUTE/' 



IN CONNECTION WITH THE 



Pennsylvania. Railroad, 



Luxurious Travel on Fast Express Trains. 



PULLMAN SLEEPINO CARS 



BETWEEN 



NEW YORK, PHILA.DELPHIA. & CA.PE CHARLES, 



Daily Excursions from Old Point Comfort 

TO 

Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beaeh„ 

H. W. DUNNE, R. B. COOKE, CHAS. W. REIPP, 

Superintendent. Gen. Pass. Agent. Trav. Pass. Agent, 

Danville and New River Railroad 

FROM DANVILLE TO STUART. 




^: 



kMujiui 



JkuAL 



The BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD, i 



The following Agents of the B. & 0. R. R. will cheerfully 

give all inquirers detailed information concerning 

rates to points in Virginia. 

BALTIMORE. Camden St. Depot— L. M. Cole, Gen'l Ticket Agent; Ed. R. 

Jones. Ticket Agent. Baltimore and Calvert Sts.— B. F. Bond, Div. Pass. 

Agent; Daniel Bride, Trav. Pass. Agent ; Gko. H. Houck, City Passenger 

Agent ; G. D. Crawford, Ticket Agent. 230 S. Broadway— G. Leimbach, 

Ticket Agent. 
BOSTON, 311 Washington St.— A. J. Simmons, Passenger and Ticket Agent. 

CHICAGO, 193 S. Clark St.— L. S. Allen, North-western Passenger Agent; 
H. W. McKewin, District Passenger Agent. W. C. Shoemaker, Traveling 
Passenger Agent. Palmer House— J. Coltboui, Ticket Agent. Tremont 
House— W. R. Meadowcroft, Ticket Agent. B. & O. Depot, Lake Front, 
foot of Monroe St.— A. C. Gardner, Ticket Agent. 

CHILLICOTHE, OHIO— E- F). Patton, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

CINCINNATI, Grand Central Depot— W. H. King, Assistant General Pass- 
enger Agent ; C. W. and B. R. R., "Wm. Brown, Ticket Agent. 169 Walnut 
St.— John F. McCarthy, District Passenger Agent; J. "W. PillsbuR'V, 

P Ticket Agent. 

COLUMBUS, O., WA North High St.— W. E. Reppert, Division Passenger 
Agent; J. C. Lanids, Division Ticket Agent; Frank Wilson, Traveling 
Passenger Agent. 370 North High St.— George K. Smith, Ticket Agent. 
Union Depot— E. Pagels, Ticket Agent. 

COVINGTON, KY., 403 Scott St.— G. M. Abbott, Ticket Agent. 

GREENSBORO, N. C, R. A. Jenkins, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

KANSAS CITY, MO.— T, H. Dearborn, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

NEW YORK, 415 Broadway— C. P. Craig, General Eastern Passenger 
Agent; E. G. Tuckerman, A. Blum and Herman Falck, Passenger 
Agents; C. B. Jones, Ticket Agent. 1140 Broadway— R. T. Smith, Ticket 
Agent. 21 Broadway— Poggenburg & Schouw, Ticket Agents. 261 Broad- 
way— Thos. Cook & Sons, Ticket Agents. 

J-- NORFOLK, VA., Cor. Main and Granby Sts.— W. Talbot Walke, Ticket 

Agent. 
PHILADELPHIA, 833 Chestnut St.— C. R. Mackenzie, District Passenger 

Agent ; Lyman McCartv, Ticket Agent. Depot Cor. 34th and Chestnut 

Sts.— C. D. GL.4.DDING, Ticket Agent. 609 3. 3d St.— M. Rosenbaum, Ticket 

Agent. 
PITTSBURGH. Cor. 5th Ave. and Wood St.— E.D. Smith, Division Passenger 

Agent; Albert Koenig, Traveling Passenger Agent; C. E. Gregory, 

Ticket Agent. Depot Cor. Grant and Water Sts.— S. J. Hutchison, Ticket 

Agent. 
READING, PA.— D. D. Courtney, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

RICHMOND, VA., 1000 Main St.— A. \V. Garber, Ticket Agent. 

ST. LOUIS, 101 N. 4th St.— George B. Warfel, Western Passenger Agent— 
G. M. Taylor, Passenger Agent. 

ST. PAUL, MINN., Peter Harvey, Traveling Passenger Agent, 

SOMERSET, PA.— W. W. Picking, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

STAUNTON, VA.— C. E- Dudrow, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

T^. TIFFIN, OHIO— F. P. Copper, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

WASHINGTON, D. C, 1351 Penna. Ave.— Percy G. Smith, City Passenger 
Agent; S. B. Hege, Passenger Agent; F. T. Howser, Ticket Agent. 619 
Penna. Ave.— H. R. Howser, Ticket Agent. Depot N. J. Ave. and C St.— 
H. T^ W. Alvey, General Agent ; J. F. Milnor, Ticket Agent. 

WHEELING, W. VA.. 1300 Market St.— John T. Lane, Traveling Passen- 
ger Agent; John Bailie, Ticket Agent. B. & O. Depot, T. C. Burke, 
Ticket Agent. 

— -^ Special information in regard to lands, manufacturing sites, 

business locations, etc. in Virginia, tributary to the B. & 0. R. R., 
can be obtained upon application to 

M. V. RICHARDS, 

Land and Immigration Agent, B. & O. B. R., 
CHAS. O. SCULL, BALTIMORE, MD. 

General Passe)iger Agent, B. & O. B. R., 
BALTIMORE, MD. 



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